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AK Party plans to hold referendum in April, polls in May 2011
The government, which has been working on a mini “democracy package” that would smooth Turkey’s way during its EU accession period, is expected to submit the constitutional reform package to Parliament next week. The ruling party will take constitutional changes to a public vote in April. While early elections are not on the government’s agenda, it plans to hold general elections two months before the scheduled date -- July 2011-- and hold the elections in May.
The ruling AK Party’s plans to make changes to the Constitution as part of the country’s accession to the European Union have once again come to the agenda with a recent move by the party to reduce the waiting time for holding a referendum on constitutional amendments from the current 120 days to 45 days.
Parliament’s Constitutional Commission took up the bill on Wednesday and approved it with one change, increasing the proposed 45 days to 60 days upon the request of the Supreme Election Board (YSK), which said 45 days would be insufficient for preparations to hold a referendum.
Changing the Constitution has been on the AK Party’s agenda since it first came to power in 2002, but it has so far been unable to make major changes to the current version, which was drafted by the military following the Sept. 12, 1980 coup d’état. The AK Party made an aborted attempt to write a new civilian constitution following the July 22, 2007 general elections. Now, the AK Party plans to introduce at least a mini “democracy package” before the 2011 parliamentary elections.
The government has plans to include among proposals in the constitutional reform package to be introduced next week a new mechanism to allow parties that fail to pass the 10 percent election threshold to be represented in Parliament. The package will also include constitutional amendments that would make party closures more difficult. With the package, the structure of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) is also to be altered. The justice minister and the minister’s undersecretary will not be members of the HSYK.
The package also seeks to establish a parliamentary commission on “political ethics” that will work in secrecy and monitor whether any politician has broken the law through involvement in public procurement tenders or contracts. The package will introduce restrictions on politicians’ ability to own companies.
An ombudsman law, of crucial importance in the EU harmonization process, has also been included in the package. The law, which was previously vetoed by former President Ahmet Necdet Sezer on grounds that the “ombudsman” institution did not have a definition in the Constitution, is necessary since Turkey currently has no separate institution to inspect public services.
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