A Constitutional Referendum is Days Away

Mavi Boncuk |

A constitutional referendum on a number of changes to the constitution will be held in Turkey on 12 September 2010, although it had initially been expected for July 2010. The changes, which relate to the role of the judiciary and the military, were passed in parliament in late April and early May 2010 with over 336 votes, below the two-thirds majority of 367 votes needed to pass them directly,but enough to send them to a referendum within sixty days after President of Turkey Abdullah Gül signs the law.

A constitutional change to make it more difficult for the Supreme Court to dissolve parties failed to pass.

Gül signed the law on 13 May 2010. The Supreme Court annulled key provisions partially on 7 July 2010, but approved all other constitutional changes in the packet.

Motions were sent both to the Supreme Election Committee and the President of the National Assembly to postpone the referendum by the Liberal Democratic Party because the Supreme Court made changes to the original text. Constitutional changes can only be proposed by the parliament. According to a poll by Sonar Arastirma in August 2010 which forecasted 49.1% in favour and 50.9% opposed to the changes was considered skewed. Sonar Arastirma selected poll answers from regions where AK Parti (Justice and Development Party) received less votes at the last election. The results are expected to be 56-64% in favor of the changes on referendum day.