Taking Separation of Powers Seriously
In Turkey's recent election, 15 ministers from the Justice and Development Party, chaired by President Erdoğan, were nominated as parliamentary candidates and elected as MPs on 14 May. Since none of the presidential candidates won an overall majority, two leading candidates, Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu competed in a runoff vote on 28 May, in which Erdoğan secured the victory. Thus, the new ministers were neither appointed nor took office until after the runoff vote. Throughout this process, the former ministers, including the 15 elected as MPs, preserved their executive posts and titles. Should the 15 Erdoğan government ministers have resigned to run for parliamentary candidacy? And is there a constitutional incompatibility between ministerial and MP titles? The law is not always clear on these questions. This lack of clarity, we argue, can have serious consequences for the balance of power in a newly established governmental system.
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