Politics of Electoral Reform in Turkey: Actors, Motivations, Success, and Failure

Since its transition to multiparty democracy, electoral law in Turkey has gone through four major changes, each of which has in turn brought about a new electoral system. These four laws have also gone through many minor changes through amendments that while not replacing the fundamentals of the electoral system have nevertheless left significant imprints on the political system. The instability of electoral law in Turkey has been studied for its impact on parties and the party system. However, the reform processes, various actors involved in them, and their motivations have not been analyzed from a comparative perspective. Focusing on the time period between 1945 and 2018, this paper provides an assessment of reform debates, of successful and failed attempts for reform, and of drafting processes. The paper argues that major changes were made with the intention of designing an electoral system able to deliver particular goals, such as achieving a parliamentary majority in 1950, proportionality in 1961, and a parliamentary majority in 1982. Minor changes, however, were mainly initiated and even forced by incumbent parties in order to restrict actions of the particular actors in the party system who were seen as obstacles to sustaining a parliamentary majority.