A constitutional referendum was held in Turkey on 6 September 1987 to amend the "temporary article" 4 of the constitution, which had forbidden the leaders of banned parties (a total of 242 people) from taking part in politics for 10 years. The governing party ANAP agreed to the referendum after a compromise with the opposition parties regarding constitutional changes. ANAP campaigned for No, while most opposition parties campaigned for Yes vote.^[1] The changes were narrowly approved by 50.2% of voters, with a 93.36% turnout.^[2]

Quick Facts Results, Choice ...

1987 Turkish constitutional referendum

6 September 1987
Should the 10 and 5-year political bans brought by the temporary 4th article of the 1982 Constitution be lifted?
Results
Choice Votes  % Yes 11,711,461 50.16% No 11,636,395 49.84% Valid votes 23,347,856 95.54% Invalid or blank votes 1,088,965 4.46% Total votes 24,436,821 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 26,095,630 93.64%
Results by province

Close

In the referendum, "yes" voters used the color blue, while "no" voters used the orange color as a symbol. Political parties close to banned leaders participated in the 'Blue Color Yes' (Turkish: Mavi Renkli Evet) campaign carried out by four banned leaders to lift the bans in the said referendum. True Path Party, Democratic Left Party, Nationalist Task Party, Welfare Party supported a "yes" vote. In addition, Social Democratic Populist Party, although not under the control of any banned leader, called for a 'Yes' vote for September 6, especially their leader Erdal İnönü organized country-wide rallies for this purpose.^[3]