Applicability of Presidential System in Turkey

Abstract

There have been many discussions on the applicability of the presidential system in Turkey in different period of time. Nowadays, the tension of the discussion on this topic has risen up. From this perspective, the applicability of the presidential system in Turkey is the main issue in this essay. The main question in this essay is whether the presidential system will provide stable democracy for Turkey or not in terms of effective party number with regard to Laakso/Taagepera’s Effective Party Number Index. My hypothesis related to this issue is; the more party fragmentation and effective party number a country has, the more democratic instability will happen, or the lesser party fragmentation and effective party number a country has, the more democratic stability will happen when the presidential system is applied. This hypothesis is tested in countries where the presidential system is practiced by using statistical data, empirical studies, and literature review in terms of Laakso/Taagepera’s Effective Party Number Index and Rae’s Party Fragmentation Index. Among presidential countries, only the ones that have lower party fragmentation and effective party number lesser than three parties, have a stable democracy. Then, I ascertain that Turkey has high party fragmentation and effective party number more than three according to Laakso/Taagepera’s Effective Party Index and Rae’s Party Fragmentation Index by using data from past elections in Turkey. Hence, I suggest that application of the presidential system in Turkey will deteriorate recent democratic problems in that there has not been any stable presidential country in the world which has high party fragmentation and effective party number more than three like Turkey.