Turkey – Constitutional reform

In Turkey the June legislative election easily returned the ruling AKP but with insufficient deputies to change the constitution unilaterally in parliament. So, the opposition CHP party has, in theory, the potential to shape or at least veto different elements of the constitutional reform process.

The CHP has now issued an 18-page document identifying the issues that it considers to be important in the process. Hürriyet Daily News has details. One of those issues is its opposition to a presidential system, which is commonly thought to be on the AKP’s wish list.

It is not obvious what all parties mean by a presidential system. Some understand it as the current system but with a more powerful president, meaning a semi-presidential system with a strong president. Others understand it as a US-style presidential system. Yet others understand it as any system with a directly elected president. So, when the CHP says that it is opposed to a presidential system, the implications of that position are not clear in the article.

The CHP document seems to oppose just about any proposal that the AKP is likely to put forward. So, it is not clear whether they are going to try to stop any reform or whether they are going to bargain on certain key issues and sacrifice others.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *