A resigned YES in Turkey

An air of resigned acceptance pervades over Istanbul the morning after a narrow majority voted YES in a referendum to impose sweeping constitutional changes and change Turkey's system into a presidential one. 

Turkey's largest cities, Istanbul, Anakara and Izmir had a NO majority.

There were jubilant crowds cheering and smaller pockets of protesters marching immediately after the 51.4 % YES win was declared on Sunday night. Some light rain however rid the street of both YES and NO supporters fairly early. In fact the celebrations were not comparable to those after recent election wins, nor the protests comparable to those that occurred over the destruction of Gezi Park in 2012.

So, what does that mean?

That means Turkey will have a presidential system, like many other countries around the world and it looks like people are going to accept it. The biggest problem most NO voters have is that this new system means the current president could be in power until 2029 and that the new system would give him too much power.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was first elected prime minister in 2003 as the leader of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and stayed in the post until 2014 – after which he legally could no longer be prime minister. He then took the largely ceremonial position of president. However, with the switchover to a presidential system, Erdogan has an opportunity to get back in the reigns as the head of the country once again.

Essentially Turkish citizens voted on an 18-point reform package put forth by the AK Party. Changes include:

•       Switching Turkey’s political system from a parliamentary one to a presidential one.
• ·        Resetting the presidential term to 5 years.
• ·        Giving the president the power to select the executive.
• ·        Reducing the minimum age to run for office from 25 to 18.
• ·        President can be tied to a political party.
• ·        President will choose vice-presidents and top executive.
• ·        Supreme Court members reduced from 22 to 13.
• ·        MPs will be increased from 550 to 600
• ·        Military courts abolished.

The switch over to the new system will take effect in the next elections scheduled for 2019 – unless an early election is called.

Opposition parties have called for an investigation after Turkey’s Supreme Election Board allowed the previously illegal practice of allowing unsealed envelopes to be counted. Their decision came mid-voting on Sunday.