An examination of the election systems implemented in the general elections in Turkey from multi-party life to the present in the context of democracy

Elections are an indispensable element of democracy. The healthy functioning of democracies is only possible through elections that reflect the political preferences of the people in parliament and are held at regular intervals. Elections held in a fair and free environment gain a democratic quality by ensuring basic principles such as freedom, equality, generality, individuality and confidentiality. How the will of the people is reflected in the administration is determined by the electoral systems used in elections. The electoral system preferred by the countries in the elections also gives information about the level of democracy in that country. In our country, from the multiparty system to the present, many electoral systems have been tried to achieve both justice in representation and political stability. The understanding of majoritarian democracy in elections in Turkey, which became a multiparty system in 1946, has been discussed as it obliges the voters to channel their voting preferences to a certain party. While the transition to proportional representation after 1960 was a step taken to ensure the transition to a pluralistic understanding of democracy and to ensure fairness in representation, it was also criticised because it could lead to instability in the administration.. In this study, conceptual definitions such as democracy and election were first mentioned, and then the considerations of electoral systems implemented in our country from the time of the multiparty system until today were evaluated in the context of political stability and the principles of fairness in representation within the framework of democracy. While it was emphasized that these two principles in the 67th article of our Constitution should be reconciled in the electoral systems applied, it was noted that weight is given to one of these principles and the other is left weak. It has been shown that the will of all parts of the country is reflected in parliament and that an electoral system is needed in which the principles of political stability and representational justice are compatible, and that evaluations have been made on the basis of democracy.