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Strange things...
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People with some brains were puzzled discovering a while ago that in between the 2007 parliamentary elections and disclosure of the electoral lists earlier this month, that is within an 18-month period, the number of Turks eligible to vote increased in an incomprehensible manner by around 6 million.
Yes, at least in some parts of the country there is still a very high birth rate, but Turks are not a rabbit nation to multiply that fast. Discussions on the issue was finally "resolved" this week with a statement of the Supreme Electoral Council Ñ which under present Turkish laws has the status of a high court and its decisions are final Ñ that the 6 million increase compared to the 2007 electoral lists in the number of eligible voters was "normal" as some 2 million of the "new voters" were the 18-year-old youngsters who would be voting for the first time, while the remaining 4 million were people who somehow were not registered in previous electoral listsÉ
Despite this, "there is no abnormality in electoral lists" statement of the electoral board, however, "exceptional" complaints are still being made according to the electoral lists several hundred people were living at an address which has been a poultry-house, or at an empty lot or at a still under construction building.
Why do we have this controversy?
For the first time in the history of the republic, despite constitutional stipulations that elections are under judicial guarantee and supervision and in total contrast with past practices, rather than preparing the electoral lists itself the electoral board signed a contract with the Turkish Statistical Institution, or TÜİK, and assigned TÜİK to prepare electoral lists based on the electronic address-based registration records. Thus, a constitutional duty entrusted on the electoral board was handed over to the TÜİK, an agency affiliated to the political administration and eventually we landed in the present mess. The issue, which is a clear violation of separation of powers principle, is now referred to the Council of State by several opposition parties. If the Council of State annuls the protocol between the electoral board and TÜİK, we will end up having no electoral lists at all. Then, a new process of updating the electoral lists of the 2007 elections will have to be undertaken. Unfortunately, many people have started smelling an unprecedented degree of foul play regarding the upcoming electionsÉ
Tragicomedy at the Constitutional Court
Another decision adopted by the Supreme Electoral Board was the one invalidating a law which was already approved by the Constitutional Court. The law was regarding disbanding of 862 municipalities on grounds that population in those regions shrunk below the 2,000 limit. The electoral board said those of the 862 municipalities who opened court cases against that law could participate in the upcoming March local polls and elect new mayors.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reacted to the electoral board decision with a complaint accusing the electoral board of trying to act as if it has become a second constitutional court, while Chief Judge Haşim Kılıç of the Constitutional Court came up with a statement stressing that the issue was taken up by the court and with a majority decision the electoral board decision was found inappropriate.
That statement of Kılıç opened the second episode of the tragicomedy when eight members of the 11-member Constitutional Court issued a written statement declaring that the High Court did not meet on that issue, no decision was put to vote of top judges and that the statement of Kılıç did not reflect the majority view of the high court judges.
Now, as if the electoral lists fiasco was not enough, the country is faced with a very awkward situation. The chief judge of the Constitutional Court Ñ who made fame with his conservative views ever since he was made a member of the high court by late President Turgut Özal Ñ is not only aligning in criticizing the electoral board decision with the head of the political administration of the country, but he as well misled the nation with a rather unfortunate statement that he implied supported by majority of top judges, but proved to have been making a not so accurate statement with the statement of eight of the total 11 members of the top court that the remarks of the top judge did not reflect their views.
If the top judge of a country is unreliable, who might be reliable?
Despite this, "there is no abnormality in electoral lists" statement of the electoral board, however, "exceptional" complaints are still being made according to the electoral lists several hundred people were living at an address which has been a poultry-house, or at an empty lot or at a still under construction building.
Why do we have this controversy?
For the first time in the history of the republic, despite constitutional stipulations that elections are under judicial guarantee and supervision and in total contrast with past practices, rather than preparing the electoral lists itself the electoral board signed a contract with the Turkish Statistical Institution, or TÜİK, and assigned TÜİK to prepare electoral lists based on the electronic address-based registration records. Thus, a constitutional duty entrusted on the electoral board was handed over to the TÜİK, an agency affiliated to the political administration and eventually we landed in the present mess. The issue, which is a clear violation of separation of powers principle, is now referred to the Council of State by several opposition parties. If the Council of State annuls the protocol between the electoral board and TÜİK, we will end up having no electoral lists at all. Then, a new process of updating the electoral lists of the 2007 elections will have to be undertaken. Unfortunately, many people have started smelling an unprecedented degree of foul play regarding the upcoming electionsÉ
Tragicomedy at the Constitutional Court
Another decision adopted by the Supreme Electoral Board was the one invalidating a law which was already approved by the Constitutional Court. The law was regarding disbanding of 862 municipalities on grounds that population in those regions shrunk below the 2,000 limit. The electoral board said those of the 862 municipalities who opened court cases against that law could participate in the upcoming March local polls and elect new mayors.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reacted to the electoral board decision with a complaint accusing the electoral board of trying to act as if it has become a second constitutional court, while Chief Judge Haşim Kılıç of the Constitutional Court came up with a statement stressing that the issue was taken up by the court and with a majority decision the electoral board decision was found inappropriate.
That statement of Kılıç opened the second episode of the tragicomedy when eight members of the 11-member Constitutional Court issued a written statement declaring that the High Court did not meet on that issue, no decision was put to vote of top judges and that the statement of Kılıç did not reflect the majority view of the high court judges.
Now, as if the electoral lists fiasco was not enough, the country is faced with a very awkward situation. The chief judge of the Constitutional Court Ñ who made fame with his conservative views ever since he was made a member of the high court by late President Turgut Özal Ñ is not only aligning in criticizing the electoral board decision with the head of the political administration of the country, but he as well misled the nation with a rather unfortunate statement that he implied supported by majority of top judges, but proved to have been making a not so accurate statement with the statement of eight of the total 11 members of the top court that the remarks of the top judge did not reflect their views.
If the top judge of a country is unreliable, who might be reliable?
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