An examination on the nomination process of the political parties: the example of the parliamentary general elections between 1983-2018

Throughout history, in the democratization of societies, it has been expected that individuals will have the right to participate in government and to vote and be elected. It is stated that the use of the right to vote and be elected, which is one of the indispensable elements of democracy, and the healthy functioning of elections strengthen not only the relations of individuals with each other, but also the relationship between the individual and the state. It is known that democratization steps in Turkey started with Sened-i İttifak in the last years of the Ottoman Empire and naturally, the Republic of Turkey was established after the national struggle as a result of these developments. The 1946 elections held with the participation of two parties in Turkey, which was governed by a single party in accordance with the conditions of the time until 1946, are accepted as the beginning of the transition to multi-party life in Turkish democracy. The development of multi-party life in Turkey was achieved with the elections held in the following years: 1950, 1954, 1957, 1961, 1965, 1969, 1973 and 1977. In particular, discussions about the existence of political parties, which are indispensable elements of elections, the conditions for participating in elections and candidate selection processes, are constantly on the agenda of Turkey. Within a constitutional framework, the Political Parties Law, the Election Law and the statutes of political parties constitute the basic legal framework of candidate selection processes. It can be said that political parties follow different methods on this issue, taking into account public perceptions. Starting from this point, the study aims to comparatively examine the candidate selection methods used in the elections held between 1983 and 2018 for the candidate selection processes of political parties in the parliamentary elections in Turkey and the political parties that entered Grand National Assembly of Turkey and formed groups in each period. For this purpose, the method of the study was determined by scanning the domestic and foreign literature on the subject and also by examining the legislation of the relevant period, TSI data and the reports of the Supreme Election Board (SEB). In the study, it was determined that there were some similarities and differences between the candidate selection methods used by political parties in the parliamentary elections held in these periods. It has been revealed that, in accordance with the relevant legislation, in this period, the methods of Preselection, Centralized Polling, Organization (Candidate) Polling and Quota Nominations were used in the processes of determining the parliamentary candidates of political parties. It has been determined that political parties preferred the central poll method among the methods of determining parliamentary candidates in the parliamentary general elections held during the period of the study. It is important to hold elections in a democratic manner in the development of Turkish democracy, and to develop this knowledge, it is important to popularize the practice of primary elections, which is accepted as a universal value, and if necessary, make it a constitutional obligation. Keywords: Membership determination methods, democracy, parliamentary elections, elections, Turkish Grand National Assembly.