Turkish constitution change bill headed for parliament
Turkish constitution change bill headed for parliament
A
parliamentary committee early Friday approved a bill proposing a set of
constitutional changes, including a switch to a presidential system of
governance in Turkey.
The
bill, backed by the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party’s 316
lawmakers, was now expected to be put to vote in the parliament after
the committee’s approval came following nine days of talks.
The
proposed law gives executive powers to the president and vice
presidents while abolishing the post of prime minister, lowering the age
of candidacy for parliament from 25 to 18, and increasing the number of
parliamentarians from 550 to 600 in accordance with the country’s
growing population.
It
also proposes to hold general elections every 5 years, instead of the
current every four years, and the presidential election will also take
place on the same days.
Conditions to become president
The
draft bill also proposes the Turkish president should be at least
40-years old; gets directly elected by the people every five years and
will be limited to two terms.
The president would also not be required to leave his or her political party once elected unlike in the previous constitution.
The
president will also be able to appoint presidential aides and the
ministers on his or her own, and will also have the right to unseat
them.
Also,
there will be no "Council of Ministers" but there will be ministers.
Moreover, the president will have both the executive power and authority
within the limits of the law.
The number of the Constitutional Court members will also be decreased from 17 to 15.
According to the draft, the next parliamentarian and presidential elections will take place on Nov. 3, 2019.
The AK Party and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) had struck an agreement over the changes to the constitution.
Constitutional
change -- in particular, the call for a presidential system -- has been
on the political agenda since Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the former prime
minister and AK Party leader, was elected Turkey's president in August
2014.
That election was the first time a Turkish president was directly chosen by popular vote.
In
the current parliamentary model, Turkish people vote for 550 members of
parliament. The government is formed by minimum number of 276
lawmakers.
In
the proposed presidential system, the electorate would vote for a
person to form a government independently of parliament, with no need of
a vote of confidence.
According
to the head of the parliament's Constitution Commission Mustafa Sentop,
those who oppose the draft bill would have the right to object until
Jan. 2, 2017
- 04 January 2017
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