A survey: Are Turks pleased with the new presidential system introduced in 2018?

The presidential system of government, adopted in a referendum on 16 April 2017, took full effect in Turkey along with the elections on 24 June 2018. What major change did this bring in practice? The Office of prime minister was abolished and all executive powers were transferred to the president. The president became the head of both the state and the government. To cut a long story short the president was furnished with additional powers over the parliament.

The argument used by the head of state for the necessity of the new system was, “This parliamentary system is not efficient. To take giant steps towards a rapid development of Turkey we need a much more efficient system in which we can take decisions faster and without obstacles we have had to cope with so far”.

Eventually he succeeded to bring the new system and started using his extra power whenever he deemed necessary. The question is however, “how did this new system contribute to the country in many aspects, such as economy, law and certainly democracy practices. We will not answer this question here but would rather like to refer to public surveys conducted by expert companies in this area.

For instance one of the most popular but also reputable companies in the sector has just completed a survey among public and the official of said company has shared following results, regarding the question in the title, in an interview on the web.

• 48 percent of the interviewed citizens have commented they are not pleased with the presidential system in effect, currently.
• 37 percent were either content with it or would like it to be improved for a better practice.
• 15 percent refrained from sharing their opinions in regards
• When the 15 percent is distributed the rate of those not happy with the current system totals up to 57 percent – as explained by the official.

Thus the interpretation of these results is that the majority of the citizens are not happy with the new practice said system has brought.

As experts comment on the other hand , the president might not be very sure about a certain victory he would enjoy in the next presidential elections, to be held in this system. The reason is he might not be able to get 50 (+) percent of the votes and many expect a further move from the president such as shifting back to the parliamentary system again.

To recap, it seems as if Turkey may experience many interesting developments in the coming months once again.