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This Sunday, Turks will vote on possibly the single most important issue of their lifetime. But what they are voting on is unclear. With only a “Yes” and “No” option printed on the ballot, Turkish voters will have to say “Yes” or “No” to their interpretation of a question that is nowhere to be found on the ballot, or elsewhere for that matter.

Drafting a question is possibly the single most important power a government has over the outcome of a referendum. As we know from the Quebec referenda, and the subsequent Clarity Act, the politics of a referendum question is essential to the outcome of a referendum. So why did the Turkish government choose not to have a question on the ballot for Sunday’s referendum?

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The most likely answer is that the government is trying to capitalize on the popularity of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country’s polarizing president, to consolidate and mobilize its electoral base. By placing no question on the ballot, the Turkish government is trying to reframe the referendum as a popularity vote for Erdogan, who remains well-liked by his party’s base. This is, however, a pretty big gamble. Erdogan’s party has yet to win a numerical majority in any of the elections it has entered, with its voter base lingering around 45-49 per cent of the electorate at the best of times. It is, however, counting on an endorsement from the Nationalist Movement Party, which usually receives around 10 per cent of votes in national elections. The result of this gamble is to be seen on Sunday.