Parliamentary System
The political dimension of democracy embodies the issues of the emergence of the people’s will and the structure of the political power. Changes directed at strengthening the political structure must be made on issues such as; the “political parties” that play an extremely important role in the functioning of democracy, the “elections” which actually mean the emergence of the national will, the “legislative power” consisting of the representatives chosen by the people and the “executive organ” as the parliamentarian governmental system.
Political parties are one of the indispensable elements of the representative democratic system. In a democratic system, the diversity within the society is reflected to the political arena in the form of a multi-party order. The political parties need to have constitutional and legal arrangements in the field of law and be equipped with certain assurances. However neither should this arrangement be detailed to the point of completely eliminating the possibility of the political parties making their own arrangements.
The internal functioning of the political parties to be shaped according to democratic principles, thus maintaining democracy within the party and for the democratic culture to be developed along this direction is important. The transparency and the supervision of the accounts and electoral spendings of the political parties should also be performed efficiently in order for the political parties to carry out a transparent system and functioning. A new Law on Political Parties that builds a democratic balance between political party freedom and party bans and enables the internal functioning of political parties to shapen according to democratic principles should be drawn up.
The 10% country quota in the electoral system that is preserved in the name of stability of government damages justice in terms of representation. The system also has such problems as the over representation of small provinces, creating a disconnection between the deputy candidates and the voters and carrying the potential of producing inconsistent coalitions. An electoral system that is prone to generating stability in government but which, at the same time, does not prevent the minority political parties/views from being represented in the parliament should be designed.
It is necessary for the necessary arrangements directed at balancing the female-male representation in the decision making bodies formed as a result of the elections and appointment, in a way that enables benefitting from ad interim special measures; to be brought to the agenda in terms of the Constitution and the laws on the elections, political parties and local governments.
For the legislative organ, that is formed of the representatives chosen by the people in a representative democratic system, to have the power to use the sovereignty belonging to the people, at least the section determined in the constitution, is one of the necessities of a democratic system of government. Another condition necessary in terms of the legislative organ being a democratic structure is for the parliament to be in control of its own internal organisation, internal functioning and activities while, at the same time, observing the rights of the opposition parties; for it to be able to use its authority with the decisions it will take itself and for it to perform its duties without intervention from another organ. There has been some improvements in terms of the democratisation and a more efficient functioning from a technical perspective of the legislative organ with the amendments in the constitution. However certain deficiences can still be observed. The scope of the legislative immunity should be constricted and arrangements enabling the Parliament’s research commissions to work more efficiently should be undertaken.
In the parliamentarian governmental system established by the 1982 Constitution a double-headed legislation exists: The President and the Council of Ministers. The Constitution has transferred an important part of the authorities used by the head of state of the military period to be among the duties of the president. In this way; the concept of a president equipped with symbolic authorities that is the case in a classic parliamentarian system has been alienated and the president has been equipped with real authorities. On the other hand, by the very nature of the parliamentarian system, the president is not held responsible for acts he/she performs. A president whom it is not possible to hold responsible capable of acting individually on many issues does not comply with the logic of the system. The presidential duties should be transferred to the legislative, executive and juridical power respectively, according to whichever category they fall under and the actions to be performed by the president alone should be drawn up in the Constitution.
The 1982 Constitution has been amended many times and there is a discrepancy between the articles that have been changed with a liberal understanding and the articles that continue to remain without any changes. A comprehensive change in the constitution needs to be undertaken with a participatory and reconciliatory process. Reaching social reconciliation and the method to be followed along this path is just as important as the contents of the constitutional change itself. A comprehensive change in the constitution should be an expression of a democratic progress in a way that can be the result of the activities related to the raising of democratic standards which have taken long years for Turkey to carry out and should also mean the actualisation of a state of law with all its institutions and rules.
