The JDP Failure to Elect a President Triggers a New Test for Turkish Democracy

The inability of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) to elect a new Turkish President in 1980 after more than a hundred inconclusive rounds was followed by a military intervention and the third interruption of the democratic process since the introduction of multiparty democracy in 1950. The failure of the current Justice and Development Party (JDP) dominated TGNA to elect a replacement for President Ahmet Necdet Sezer prior to the scheduled end of his seven year term in office on May 15 has fortunately not provoked a crisis of similar severity. However, what has to be characterized as the JDP’s mismanagement of the presidential election process, which witnessed an unprecedented intervention by the Constitutional Court, a dire warning by the Turkish General Staff (TGS) and mass demonstrations against the government, has created a difficult new test for Turkish democracy.