2018 Turkish general election

* * *

|  | 24 June 2018 |

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|

Presidential election

<- 2014

2023 ->

|  |  |

|
|

Nominee  | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan | Muharrem İnce |
Party  | AK Party | CHP
Alliance  | People | Nation
Popular vote  | 26,330,823 | 15,340,321
Percentage  | 52.59% | 30.64%

* * *

|  |
Nominee  | Selahattin Demirtaş | Meral Akşener |
Party  | HDP | İYİ
Alliance  | HDK | Nation
Popular vote  | 4,205,794  | 3,649,030
Percentage  | 8.40%  | 7.29%

* * *

* * *

| President before election

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
AK Party

| Elected President

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
AK Party

|

Parliamentary election

<- November 2015

2023 ->

| Party | Leader  | % | Seats  | +/–

|
|
|
|

AK Party | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan | 42.56  | 295  | −22
CHP | Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu | 22.65  | 146  | +12
HDP | Pervin Buldan | 10.76  | 67  | +8
MHP | Devlet Bahçeli | 11.10  | 49  | +9
İYİ | Meral Akşener | 9.96  | 43  | +43

This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Seats won

Results electoral districts (top) and provincial districts (bottom)

Politics of Turkey

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General elections were held in Turkey on 24 June 2018. Presidential elections were held to elect the President of Turkey using a two-round system. Parliamentary elections took place to elect 600 Members of Parliament to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

The elections had originally been scheduled for 3 November 2019, until the Erdoğan government called for early elections on 18 April 2018.

## Background

[edit]

### 2017 constitutional referendum

[edit]

Main article: 2017 Turkish constitutional referendum

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and Erdoğan had long supported a policy of turning Turkey into an executive presidency, replacing the existing parliamentary system of government.[1] With the support of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the government was able to enact a referendum in Parliament, with the vote being set for 16 April 2017.[2]

The proposed constitutional changes would see parliamentary and presidential elections taking place on the same day every five years, with the initial vote being set for 3 November 2019. The number of seats in the Grand National Assembly was to be increased from 550 to 600, although the legislative powers of Parliament would be greatly reduced. Crucially, the office of the President of Turkey would be given powers to rule by decree, becoming both the country's head of state and head of government.[3] Supporters of the changes claimed that the new system would make the system of government more efficient, while critics claimed that it would place too much power in the hands of the president and effectively render parliament powerless.[4][5]

The constitutional changes were approved by a 51-49% margin, according to official results. However, a last-minute change in the election rules by the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) during the vote allowed unverified ballots to be accommodated into the count, which the opposition alleges added 1.5 million extra ballot papers.[6] The political opposition decried the move to be illegal and were backed by several overseas observer organisations, which claimed that the vote did not meet international standards.[7] However, subsequent legal challenges were all unsuccessful. Thus, the government began enacting 'compliance laws' to prepare for the new executive presidential system of government, which would be fully implemented following the general election scheduled for 3 November 2019.[8]

### Early election

[edit]

Despite over two years to go before the next presidential and parliamentary elections, many observers alleged that the government was preparing for an early vote soon after the 2017 referendum.[9][10] This was, observers claimed, to speed up the implementation of the executive presidential system and also to prevent the popularity of new opposition movements from reducing support for the government.[11] In October 2017, opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu called for early elections, although there was no official response to this.[12] Meral Akşener, the leader of the newly formed Good Party, alleged that the government were planning an early vote for Sunday 15 July 2018, the second anniversary of the failed 2016 coup d'état attempt.[13] The party held its first ordinary congress on 10 December 2017 and first extraordinary congress on 1 April 2018 in order to be eligible to contest a possible snap election. Despite months of speculation, the government repeatedly claimed that it was in favour of holding elections when they were due, denying that an early vote would take place.[14]

On 17 April 2018, Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, called for early elections for the 26th of August.[15] Bahçeli had previously announced that they would support a re-election bid of the incumbent president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.[16] The Justice and Development Party (AK Party), led by Erdoğan, had recently announced an electoral alliance with the MHP called the People's Alliance.[17] Following his call for early elections, Bahçeli met Erdoğan a day later on 18 April. Erdoğan subsequently announced that his party agreed with Bahçeli that an early election was needed to solve the ongoing 'political and economic uncertainty'. He therefore announced that early elections would take place on 24 June 2018.[18]

## Presidential election

[edit]

Main article: 2018 Turkish presidential election

### Candidates

[edit]

Official list of presidential candidates in order of appearance on the ballot paper[19]

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
|  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |
Muharrem İnce | Meral Akşener | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (incumbent) | Selahattin Demirtaş | Temel Karamollaoğlu | Doğu Perinçek
CHP
(Nation Alliance) | İYİ
(Nation Alliance) | AK Party
(People's Alliance) | HDP
(No alliance) | Felicity
(Nation Alliance) | Patriotic
(No alliance)
View campaign | View campaign | View campaign | View campaign | View campaign | View campaign

### Results

[edit]

Candidate| Party| Votes| %

|
|
|

| Recep Tayyip Erdoğan| Justice and Development Party| 26,330,823| 52.59
| Muharrem İnce| Republican People's Party| 15,340,321| 30.64
| Selahattin Demirtaş| Peoples' Democratic Party| 4,205,794| 8.40
| Meral Akşener| Good Party| 3,649,030| 7.29
| Temel Karamollaoğlu| Felicity Party| 443,704| 0.89
| Doğu Perinçek| Patriotic Party| 98,955| 0.20
Total| 50,068,627| 100.00
Valid votes| 50,068,627| 97.79
Invalid/blank votes| 1,129,332| 2.21
Total votes| 51,197,959| 100.00
Registered voters/turnout| 59,367,469| 86.24
Source: YSK

## Parliamentary election

[edit]

Main article: 2018 Turkish parliamentary election

### Parties contesting the election

[edit]

Ballot #  | Coalition  | Party  | Ideology  | Leader

|
|
|
|

1  |  | People's Alliance |  | AK Parti | Justice and Development Party
Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi | Conservatism | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
2  |  | MHP | Nationalist Movement Party
Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi | Ultranationalism | Devlet Bahçeli
3  | None |  | HÜDAPAR | Free Cause Party
Hür Dava Partisi | Pan-Islamism | Mehmet Yavuz
4  |  | VP | Patriotic Party
Vatan Partisi | Scientific socialism | Doğu Perinçek
5  |  | HDP | Peoples' Democratic Party
Halkların Demokratik Partisi | Kurdish minority rights | Pervin Buldan
Sezai Temelli
6  |  | Nation Alliance |  | CHP | Republican People's Party
Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi | Kemalism | Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu
7  |  | SP | Felicity Party
Saadet Partisi | Millî Görüş | Temel Karamollaoğlu
8  |  | İYİ Parti | Good Party
İyi Parti | Liberal conservatism | Meral Akşener

### Results

[edit]

Party or alliance| Votes| %| Seats| +/–
| People's Alliance| | Justice and Development Party| 21,338,693| 42.56| 295| –22
| Nationalist Movement Party| 5,565,331| 11.10| 49| +9
Total| 26,904,024| 53.66| 344| –13
| Nation Alliance| | Republican People's Party| 11,354,190| 22.65| 146| +12
| Good Party| 4,993,479| 9.96| 43| New
| Felicity Party| 672,139| 1.34| 0| 0
Total| 17,019,808| 33.95| 189| +55
| People's Democratic Party| 5,867,302| 11.70| 67| +8
| Free Cause Party| 155,539| 0.31| 0| New
| Patriotic Party| 114,872| 0.23| 0| 0
| Independents| 75,630| 0.15| 0| 0
Total| 50,137,175| 100.00| 600| +50
Valid votes| 50,137,175| 97.94|
Invalid/blank votes| 1,052,269| 2.06|
Total votes| 51,189,444| 100.00|
Registered voters/turnout| 59,367,469| 86.22|
Source: YSK
↓  295 | 49 | 146 | 43 | 67

|
|
|
|

AK Party | MHP | CHP | İYİ | HDP

## Controversies

[edit]

Further information: Turkish presidential election, 2018 § Controversies

The election process was overshadowed many multiple allegations of violations of its integrity. Prominent among them was the allegation of widespread ballot stuffing for the benefit of AK Party and MHP parties in Turkey's east, in particular in Şanlıurfa province.[20]

## See also

[edit]

* 2018 Turkish parliamentary election
* 2018 Turkish presidential election
* Turkish currency and debt crisis, 2018
* Opinion polling for the Turkish general election, 2018

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "AKP'den başkanlık açıklaması: Nisan ayında referanduma". www.birgun.net.
2. ^ "YSK Başkanı açıkladı: Referandum 16 Nisanda".
3. ^ "Anayasa Değişikliği Teklifi'nin Karşılaştırmalı ve Açıklamalı Metni". TÜRKİYE BAROLAR BİRLİĞİ - ANAYASA DEĞİŞİKLİĞİ TEKLİFİ'NİN KARŞILAŞTIRMALI VE AÇIKLAMALI METNİ.
4. ^ "Büyük ve güçlü Türkiye'ye "evet'".
5. ^ "CHP 10 MADDEDE ANLATTI: NEDEN HAYIR?". Archived from the original on 2017-03-12. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
6. ^ Sanchez, Raf; Yüksekkaş, Burhan (16 April 2017). "Erdogan claims victory in Turkish referendum but result swiftly challenged by opposition" - via www.telegraph.co.uk.
7. ^ "AKPM referandum raporunu açıkladı 'YSK kararı yasaya aykırı'".
8. ^ "Uyum Yasaları Neler Getiriyor?".
9. ^ "Ankara'da erken seçim iddiaları..."
10. ^ Sayın, Ayşe (19 April 2018). "2018'de Türkiye: Erken seçim mi, seçime hazırlık yılı mı?" - via BBC.com.
11. ^ "Kulislerde dolaşan erken seçim ve Afrin iddiası Ankara'yı hareketlendirdi". Mynet.
12. ^ "Kılıçdaroğlu erken seçim dedi".
13. ^ "Meral Akşener'den Erken Seçim Tarihi: 15 Temmuz 2018".
14. ^ "Hükümetten en net erken seçim yalanlaması: Erdoğan 'Yok' diyor, o kadar - Diken". 6 March 2018.
15. ^ "Devlet Bahçeli neden 26 Ağustos tarihini seçti?". Retrieved 24 June 2018.
16. ^ "Bahçeli: Erdoğan'ı destekliyoruz". Retrieved 24 June 2018.
17. ^ "Devlet Bahçeli: Cumhur ittifakı 2019'da tarih yazacak". Aydınlık Gazetesi.
18. ^ "Erdoğan açıkladı... Erken seçim tarihi belli oldu".
19. ^ "Pusuladaki sıralama belli oldu: İnce ilk sırada". Cumhuriyet. 2018-05-14. Archived from the original on 2018-05-14. Retrieved 2018-05-14.
20. ^ "The element of surprise in Turkey's election results". Ahval. 1 August 2018. Archived from the original on 1 August 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.

## External links

[edit]

Media related to Turkish general election, 2018 at Wikimedia Commons

* Marc Pierini (5 June 2018). "Three Scenarios for Turkey's Elections". Carnegie Europe.

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