Turkey's 17th general election will be held on 12 June 2011. It will be Turkey's first non-early elections in 34 years.
Date
On March 3, 2011, Parliament approved a ruling party proposal to set June 12 as the date for the general elections. The proposal was submitted by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on February 21 and was approved unanimously in the Parliament’s General Assembly. In its proposal, the AK Party pointed to the appropriateness of June 12 as the election date considering the June dates for the placement test for high schools (SBS) and the university entrance exam (ÖSS). The heat during the summer was also considered during the choice of date, aiming a high voter turnout.
Novelties
In accordance with a law approved by Parliament last year that made changes to Turkey’s election laws, Turkish voters are set to encounter some novelties during the general election of 2011. The changes aim to bring Turkish election campaign regulations up to European standards.
The age for parliamentary eligibility is reduced from 30 to 25.
Wooden ballot boxes are replaced by new ballot boxes made out of hard plastic that will be transparent, unbreakable and resistant to heat.
Voting booths are upgraded to a stronger, safer, and more portable model.
Voting envelopes will be made larger and will have different colors for each matter that is being voted upon.
Campaigning in languages other than Turkish will not result in a jail sentence, paving the way for politicians to use Kurdish in their quest for votes.
Campaigning will now be allowed until two hours after sunset. Under the previous law, campaigning after sundown was forbidden.
Citizens will be able to vote without official identification as long as they can provide their identity number.
Anyone who prevents someone from casting their vote will receive three to five years in prison.
Turkish voters living abroad will have to wait for another election to be able to cast their votes in the countries in which they are residing due to the inability to institute electronic voting. Turkish voters abroad will thus need to cast their votes at customs gates.
Regions
The number of MPs by province has been redistributed according to the most recent population data. The number of deputies in Parliament for Istanbul has been increased by 15, for Ankara by three and İzmir by two; Antalya, Diyarbakır, Van and Şırnak will each receive one more seat in Parliament. Ankara’s two regions will yield 15 and 16 deputies. Istanbul, made up of three regions, will have 30, 27 and 28 deputies. Izmir, with two regions, will have 13 deputies each from both regions.
The number of MPs by province
Adana 14 Adıyaman 5 Afyonkarahisar 5 Ağrı 4Amasya 3Ankara, region 1, 15 Ankara, region 2, 16 Antalya 14 Artvin 2 Aydın 7 Balıkesir 8 Bilecik 2 Bingöl 3 Bitlis 3 Bolu 3 Burdur 3 Bursa 18 Çanakkale 4
Çankırı 2 Çorum 4 Denizli 7 Diyarbakır 11 Edirne 3 Elazığ 5 Erzincan 2 Erzurum 6 Eskişehir 6
Gaziantep 12 Giresun 4 Gümüşhane 2 Hakkâri 3 Hatay 10 Isparta 4 Mersin 11 Istanbul, region 1, 30 Istanbul, region 2, 27 Istanbul, region 3, 28 Izmir, region 1, 13 Izmir, region 2, 13
Kars 3 Kastamonu 3 Kayseri 9 Kırklareli 3 Kırşehir 2 Kocaeli 11 Konya 14 Kütahya 5 Malatya 6
Manisa 10 Kahramanmaraş 8 Mardin 6 Muğla 6 Muş 4 Nevşehir 3 Niğde 3 Ordu 6 Rize 3 Sakarya 7 Samsun 9
Siirt 3 Sinop 2 Sivas 5 Tekirdağ 6 Tokat 5 Trabzon 6 Tunceli 2 Şanlıurfa 12 Uşak 3 Van 8 Yozgat 4
Zonguldak 5 Aksaray 3 Bayburt 1 Karaman 2 Kırıkkale 3 Batman 4 Şırnak 4 Bartın 2 Ardahan 2 Iğdır 2
Yalova 2 Karabük 2Kilis 2Osmaniye 4Düzce 3
Background
Following the 2010 constitutional referendum, AK party leaders said they would create a new constitution after the 2011 elections, which were seen as having emboldened the AK Party.
Roughly a month before the election, an election took place in Cyprus.
No comments:
Post a Comment