6 things to know about Türkiye's electoral system

Türkiye's presidential and parliamentary elections are set for May 14, with incumbent president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party seeking another victory at the ballot box.

The opposition picked Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the CHP, as its presidential candidate.

Here are six things to know about Türkiye's electoral system:

Mixed system

Türkiye's electoral system is a mixed system, a combination of both proportional representation and majority voting. The concept of proportional representation allows the number of seats held by a political group or party in a legislative body to be determined by the number of popular votes received. A majority vote is valid for the presidential election and it simply means obtaining more than half of the national vote share.

The two-ballot system

One is to elect a president. And the other is meant for voting members of Parliament from each electoral district.

The threshold requirement

To enter parliament, a political party must receive a minimum of 7 percent of the national vote, according to a new election law passed in April of last year. The law permits the formation of alliances between different political parties. Therefore, any party may be able to secure a seat in parliament if they form an alliance that collectively receives over 7 percent of the vote across any district in Türkiye.

Voting districts

There are 87 electoral districts across Türkiye. The number of MPs representing each district varies based on the population ratio. For instance, Istanbul has 98 MPs since it's the most populated city in the country and Ankara has 36 parliamentarians, while Tunceli and Bayburt provinces have only 1 for each.

Closed-list system

Closed party lists mean that the rank order of the candidates cannot be changed by respective voters.

Choosing the president

Turkish citizens elect their president separately from the parliament, using a two-round majority system. If no candidate wins a majority of votes in the first round, the top two candidates compete in a second round of voting where one candidate should get more than 50 percent to be elected.

READ MORE: Turkish election board issues list of parties contesting May election