Off the wire
• Ronaldinho planning return to football, says agent  • Paris conference on Middle East peace reiterates necessity of two state solution  • Roundup: Cyprus working group on security to meet for three days, says spokesman  • Chinese president eyes friendship, cooperation on Switzerland trip  • Turkish officers serving with occupation army arrested and taken to Ankara  • Chinese president hails China-Switzerland "exemplary" partnership  • Roundup: PLO welcomes Paris conference statement, Hamas says talks with Israel waste of time  • Uganda reactivates national task force as avian flu breaks out  • "Hidden Figures" goes on to top of box office in its fourth weekend  • (UPDATE) Okss Brazil prison violence continues unabated, kills 32  
You are here: 　 Home

Turkish Parliament concludes first round of voting on constitutional amendments

Xinhua, January 16, 2017 Adjust font size:

The Turkish parliament adopted the last two articles of the new constitutional reform package on Sunday completing the first round of voting, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

A total of 481 of 550 deputies participated the secret ballot session on the Article 18 on Sunday night and 344 approved.

According to the last article, Article 18, the head of state is allowed to keep ties with his or her own party.

The draft charter discussed in parliament is supported by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

The first round of talks on the amendments, which will convert the country' s current parliamentary system into a presidential one, has been concluded paving the way for a possible referendum.

The second round of voting on the constitutional reform package is expected to take place on Jan. 18, the report said.

The ruling AKP aims to approve 6 articles per day in the second round of the voting and finish it by Jan. 21.

If at least 330 of the 550 lawmakers approve the articles, the changes will be posed to the public in a referendum. Any article that remains below the 330 vote threshold in the second round will be left out of the package, regardless of the result of the first round vote.

The AKP has 316 seats in parliament while the MHP has 39, more than enough to obtain the 330 votes needed for a referendum.

Erdogan has said he would push for a referendum even if the draft is approved by the two-third majority.

The AKP plans to have a referendum on constitutional changes on March 26 or at the latest on April 16, according to Anadolu Agency.

The current constitution and election laws stipulate that a referendum must be held within 60 days after a referendum is announced by the president. Enditem