Turkey referendum, 2017

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This is planned to happen around April although may be later. On the 10th, AKP and the fascist  MHP agreed on the amendments they want to introduce into the constitution. Here they are:

Article 9: The judiciary is required to act on condition of impartially.

2.Article 75: The number of seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey is raised from 550 to 600.

3.Article 76: The age requirement to stand as a candidate in an election was lowered from 25 to 18, while the condition of having to complete compulsory military service is removed. Individuals with relations to the military are ineligible to run for election.

4.Article 77: Parliamentary terms are extended from four to five years. Parliamentary and presidential elections will be held on the same day every five years, with presidential elections going to a run-off if no candidate wins a simple majority in the first round.

5.Article 78: All parliamentary candidates on a party's list that were not elected obtain the status of 'reserve' MPs. If an MP for their constituency dies or has their membership terminated, then reserve MPs fill the vacant seat in accordance to their rank on their party's list. In addition, all parties are required to field %5 more candidates than there are seats available in a given constituency, with a minimum of two extra candidates, in case all the constituency candidates of a party are elected. Independent candidates are required to field one reserve independent candidate when running for election. Reserve MPs do not have any additional rights or privileges that are enjoyed by serving MPs unless they become sitting MPs by filling a vacant seat. Parliamentary or presidential elections can be delayed for a maximum of one year if a state of war prevents elections from being held.

6.Article 84: The powers of Parliament to scrutinise ministers and hold the government to account, as well has granting ministers the power to issue decrees regarding certain matters, are abolished.

7.Article 98: The obligation of ministers to answer questions orally in Parliament is abolished.

8.Article 101: In order to stand as a presidential candidate, an individual requires the endorsement of one or more parties that won 5% or more in the preceding parliamentary elections and 100,000 voters. The elected president no longer needs to terminate their party membership if they have one.

9.Article 104: The President becomes both the head of state and head of government, with the power to appoint and sack ministers and vice presidents. The president can call referendums and issue decrees at will, though decrees will only hold if they concern certain parts of the constitution and are not overridden by parliamentary legislation.

10.Article 105: Parliamentary investigations into possible crimes committed by the President can begin in Parliament with a three-fifths vote in favour. Following the completion of investigations, the parliament can vote to indict the President with a two-thirds vote in favour.

11.Article 106: The President can appoint one or more Vice Presidents. If the Presidency falls vacant, then fresh presidential elections must be held within 45 days. If parliamentary elections are due within less than a year, then they too are held on the same day as early presidential elections. If the parliament has over a year left before its term expires, then the newly elected president serves until the end of the parliamentary term, after which both presidential and parliamentary elections are held. This does not count towards the President's two-term limit. Parliamentary investigations into possible crimes committed by Vice Presidents and ministers can begin in Parliament with a three-fifths vote in favour. Following the completion of investigations, the parliament can vote to indict Vice Presidents or ministers with a two-thirds vote in favour. If found guilty, the Vice President or minister in question is only removed from office if their crime is one that bars them from running for election. If a sitting MP is appointed as a minister or Vice President, their parliamentary membership is terminated and is taken by a reserve MP.

12.Article 119: The ability to declare a state of emergency is given to the President, taking effect following parliamentary approval. States of emergency can be extended for up to four months at a time except during war, where the state of emergency is indefinite.

13.Article 120: The President is given the right to appoint senior bureaucratic officials, as well as define their roles.

14.Article 126: The functions, structure, powers and responsibilities of the civil service are shaped according to presidential decree, with Parliament having its powers in shaping the civil service through law revoked.

15.Article 142: Military courts are abolished unless they are erected to investigate actions of soldiers under conditions of war.

The HDP (currently boycotting parliament after many key members including Demitras and Yuksegdag were imprisoned due to supposed PKK links) and the CHP are backing "No". Polls - like they can be trusted here! - are showing volatility.

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No mention on changing the draconian 10% threshold. Shocker.

AKP wants FPTP, but I assume it was nixed by MHP who don't have many vote rich strongholds or anything.

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This will happen on the 16th April.

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Opinion polling is showing a pretty tight race btw, with support for the "reform" suffering a drop recently:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_constitutional_referendum,_2017#Opinion_polls

But maybe they'll just rig the results in Erdogan's favour in the end.

Lol That the "no campaign" section is completely blank.

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Lololol: AKP FM attacks european leftist media, declaring solidarity with Orban/PiS/trump etc in an interview with Breitbart.

http://aa.com.tr/en/turkey/western-media-biased-on-turkeys-referendum/781332

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Turkey's elections are not outright fraudulent or anything. You get petty tampering in provincial areas and a lot of "election day campaigning" that is not exactly above board, but this is not state sanctioned or anything; rather it's local groups of party cadres (not just from the AKP) that behave as parties tend to do in flaws democracies.

Not that this referendum is remotely fair in the way it is being conducted, but that's more due to the state of crisis the AKP has stoked and the increasingly supine and fearful media, which has led to the public at large not knowing what they are voting for. The quality of debate is "vote 'yes' if you like Erdogan (or dislike him, but prefer him to the PKK)". That's the thing with for direct democracy - unless both sides are given equal ability to explain themselves they tend towards being undemocratic plebiscites.

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15% of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) voters to say ‘yes’

Kurds for Erdogan!

Not an insubstantial demographic - there are quite a lot of conservative Kurds (heck, Turkey's Kurdish population is exploding dramatically, so they really need those votes).

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Fingers crossed that the results are inflated.

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Hopefully the west takes the PKK off the terrorist list.

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why would so many kurdish voters/liberal voters suddenly support erdogan?

Kurdish voters have always had a strong Erdoganist component. After all he represents the more religious nationalist end that includes them, as opposed to the more exclusively ethnic Turkish nationalists.

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Always good to remember liberal =/= secular.