Following the constitutional amendment in 2017, the very first presidential and parliamentary election was held on 24 June 2018 by means of a snap election, which secured Erdogan the presidency and his party AKP the majority in the parliament with the support of its nationalist partner MHP (Nationalist People Party). The complete election process which was held under an unnecessary and unjustified state of emergency has been intensively criticised as unfair to say the least. International observers have criticised the climate of violence and fear resulting from the general security environment, arrests of opposition activists and parliamentarians and stifling of press freedoms, making the campaign unfair.
This analysis elaborates in some detail on the new ‘a la Turca’ presidential system introduced by the new constitutional arrangements, analysing the detrimental aspects of the new system in relation to the principle of separation of powers as well as to the prerequisites of the checks and balances of any democratic governmental system. Here, the effects of the new constitutional arrangements are discussed from the perspectives of three classical powers: the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. The concluding part also provides a summary analysis of the new presidential system in view of the results of the presidential and parliamentary election held on 24 June 2018.
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