Home > 4.2 Presidential elections > TÜRKIYE - Opinion on the Amendments to the Constituion Adopted by the Grand National Assembly on 21 January 2017 and to be Submitted to a National Referendum on 16 April 2017
 
 
 
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Paragraph 98
 

The elections of deputies of the TGNA and of the President are to be held on the same day (amended Article 77). This will mean in practice that usually the President will also control the parliamentary majority. This is motivated by the need to avoid conflicts between President and parliament, which are a characteristic feature of presidential systems. But this goes against the very logic of a presidential system which is based on the separation of powers and therefore on the possibility of conflicts among these powers. To be meaningful, separation of powers requires that the different powers are constituted in a way which prevents a uniformity of appoach of the various powers. Holding elections simultaneoulsly makes it unlikely that there will be a meaningful separation of powers. If the draft is based on the systematic holding of simultaneous elections to the presidency and parliament, this shows that it does not follow the model of democratic presidential systems based on separation of powers. It rather follows a concept of unity of power which is characteristic for not so democratic systems.