On Sunday, the fourteenth of May, the Turks will witness an event that the ruling party and the opposition parties have long described as “fateful and historic.” They will choose in the ballot boxes the name of the thirteenth president of the country who will rule Turkey until 2028, while another vote will draw for them the composition of the parliament, and who will have the floor in it.
Three names are competing for the presidency, led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the leader of the “Republican People’s Party”, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, in addition to Sinan Ogan, who has nationalist roots and is one of the pillars of the “Victory Party”.
And just days before the elections, the fourth candidate, Muharram Ince, leader of the “Balad Party”, which split from the Republican People’s Party, withdrew.
In the presidential elections that took place in 2018, Erdogan was facing Ince, the leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, Salah al-Din Demirtas, the leader of the Good Party, Meral Aksnar, the leader of the Felicity Party, Temel Karamullah Oglu, and the leader of the “Happy Party”. Homeland, Dogu Pringik.
At that time – that is, five years ago – Erdogan won the presidential seat after winning 52.6 percent, but in the upcoming elections his chances are not known yet against his three competitors, led by Kilicdaroglu, who is running for the first time in the presidential elections.
The Supreme Elections Council is considered the main and primary body supervising the polling process, which was determined to begin at 8:00 am on Sunday and end at 17:00.
The Council also has full control and authority over final decisions on all election-related offenses during and after polling.
In addition to the presidency and according to the “Supreme Council”, 26 parties will run in the parliamentary elections, including those affiliated with the “Audience Alliance” led by the ruling party (Justice and Development), the “Nation” coalition, the “Coalition of Labor and Freedom”, and the “Ata” (ancestors) coalition. The Union of Socialist Forces.
The data available through his official website shows that in the May 14 elections, 64,113,941 votes will be cast, including 60,843 in the country, and 3,416,98 abroad, in about 192,000 ballot boxes.
Meanwhile, the number of voters who will vote for the first time on May 14 is 4 million 904 thousand 672, and if the presidential elections reach the second round, 47 thousand 523 voters will vote for the first time on May 28.
It is planned that 191,884 ballot box committees will be established in 973 regions, and in the mobile polling boxes that will be set up in 421 electoral districts, a total of 6,215 voters will cast their votes.
“In two phases”
Turkey’s elections on the fourteenth of May will be both presidential and parliamentary, and therefore citizens will cast their votes on two papers, the first for choosing presidential candidates, and the second for the party and alliance they prefer to reserve seats in Parliament.
Moreover, voting on these two entitlements does not include citizens of the interior only, but rather those abroad, but the timing of both parties differs from the other.
And while the voting process outside the country, which began on April 27, has ended, domestic voting will begin and end on May 14.
On Election Day, voters will vote on two ballot papers: the first includes the names of the presidential candidates next to each other, and the second forms the names of parliamentary parties, coalitions, and independents.
The papers related to parliament in each state will be prepared differently according to the alliances therein, the parties and the names of the independents, and they will be placed in one envelope and thrown into the ballot boxes.
The head of the ballot box will have the task of giving the combined ballot paper to the voters stamped “Yes” or “Favorite”, after showing that there is no mark on either side and that the back is stamped with the ballot box committee’s stamp.
How do you announce results?
The information provided by the Supreme Council for Elections states that the counting of votes will take place immediately after the end of the voting process on May 14, provided that the preliminary results are announced before 23:59.
After the announcement of the preliminary results, there will be a period of objection to the decisions and minutes of the polling booth committees, provided that it ends at 17:00 on May 15, while it will be announced before 23:59, at the latest.
On May 19, the results of the general elections will be officially announced in the Official Gazette, television and radio media. However, there will be exceptional cases.
While the results of the parliamentary elections will be decided in the first round, the matter will be different with regard to the presidential elections, and in the event that none of the candidates achieves the ratio of 50 + 1.
Candidates must receive at least 50 + 1 votes to be elected, but if no candidate obtains an absolute majority in the first round, a second round will take place after 15 days, between the two candidates who received the largest number of votes first.
Then the candidate who receives the majority of valid votes will be elected president.
And if it is decided to hold a second round in the presidential elections on May 28, the electoral calendar will start on Monday, May 15, while the provisional results will be announced on May 29.
On June 1, the final result will be officially announced through the Official Gazette and the media.
What about the parliamentary elections?
In order for political parties to elect representatives, they must either pass the country’s election threshold on their own or be in an alliance, and the total number of votes in that alliance must exceed the specified country threshold, according to valid votes.
With the legal change made last year, the electoral threshold was lowered to 7 percent.
In the event that elections are held with the coalition, if the total vote of the coalition exceeds 7 per cent, the political parties within the coalition are considered to have crossed the threshold.
How is the number of representatives calculated?
With the amendment to the electoral law that came into force on April 6, 2022, provided that the coalition exceeds the minimum threshold, the number of deputies for each political party will be calculated by dividing the total number of deputies obtained by the coalition by the percentage of votes obtained by each party.
This system may lead to the election of fewer representatives by political parties with lower votes in the coalition.
In the 2018 elections, the number of representatives of the parties that entered the coalition was calculated by dividing the total votes of the coalition by the votes obtained by the parties in the constituency.
The Public Alliance, represented by the Justice and Development Party and the National Movement Party, managed five years ago to obtain 344 parliamentary seats, which gave them a majority.
In order to gain a majority, the party or coalition must win more than half of the 300+1 parliament seats.
On the other hand, the opposition “Nation Alliance” won 195 seats for the “Republican People’s Party” and the “Good Party”.
In addition, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party managed to enter parliament by winning 67 seats.
What is the seat distribution map?
Turkey is divided into seven regions, according to a map of the distribution of seats and the number of deputies in parliament published by the Supreme Electoral Council.
These regions are: central Anatolia, eastern Anatolia, southeastern Anatolia, the Mediterranean region, the Aegean region, the Black Sea region, and the Marmara region. Central Anatolia includes 13 states with 97 seats, and Eastern Anatolia (14 states) with 53 seats.
Southeast Anatolia includes 9 states with 65 seats, and the Mediterranean region 8 states with 74 seats.
As for the Aegean region, which includes 8 states, it has a share of 75 seats, the Marmara Sea region (11 states, including Istanbul) with 170 seats, and the Black Sea region (18 states) with 66 seats.
