Lately, like everyone else, I too have started watching our television channels a lot. If I had to describe the time I spend doing this, I’d say it’s both entertaining and thought-provoking. Let’s start with the entertaining part…
I really enjoy watching the new candidates. Some speak in a genuinely composed and knowledgeable way, while others are like fish out of water… Sometimes I laugh a lot, sometimes I think, and sometimes, when I see people who can’t explain why they’re running, I say, “Why did you even become a candidate?” Of course, we’d like those composed and knowledgeable candidates we’re talking about to enter parliament, but naturally, that’s not how things work. Within a party, whoever has the more organized party machinery and can get more “ticks” for themselves comes to the fore and gets elected… That’s why the people we see and think, “Wow, my representative should be this capable and well-informed,” don’t get elected… Under the current system, they won’t get elected either…
So, what should the system be?
The other day, while discussing this issue at length with a friend who lives in the US, they told me about an interesting practice… In the US, people have the right to write in the name of someone who doesn’t appear on the ballot and vote for them! Just imagine: you can vote by writing, for example, “Cem Kar” on the ballot. Now that’s democracy…
When you think about the system we have, it’s enough to make your jaw drop. Here, if you’re not a party candidate—in other words, if you run as an independent—you have no chance of being elected. There, even if you’re not an official candidate, you can campaign on your own as an individual, and people can vote for you if they like you.
Many formulas are being proposed for our electoral system, too… We’ve been hearing the same things for years, but this time the parties seem determined, and I think these will be the last elections held under this system… But I believe we need to debate thoroughly what system will replace it, and, if possible, it should be a system that people can’t ruin… In short, if the system is going to change and new names are to have a better chance of entering politics, then the new system that is established should make that possible… And we shouldn’t forget that every system is innocent and perfect in every way on the day it is set up. The moment people enter it, the system’s gears change, and it becomes a system within the system… The new electoral system to be established should be designed with this reality in mind, and the possibility of people meddling with its gears should be reduced as much as possible… Just saying…