Turkish general election, 1977

Turkish general election, 1977

5 June 1977

Total of 450 seats of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey 226 seats were meeded for a majority Turnout 72.4%   First party Second party Third party   Leader Bülent Ecevit Süleyman Demirel Necmettin Erbakan Party CHP AP MSP Leader since 14 May 1972 28 November 1964 11 October 1972 Leader's seat Zonguldak Isparta Konya Last election 185 seats, 33.3% 149 seats, 29.8% 48 seats, 11.8% Seats won 213 186 24 Seat change 28 37 24 Popular vote 6,136,171 5,468,202 1,269,918 Percentage 41.4% 36.9% 8.6% Swing 8.1% 7.1% 3.2%

Prime Minister before election Süleyman Demirel AP Elected Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit CHP

General elections were held in Turkey on 5 June 1977. Elections took place in the middle of a political race between the right wing party AP and the left wing party CHP. With the charismatic leadership of Bülent Ecevit, CHP managed to beat one of the symbol figures of the conservative politics of Turkey, Süleyman Demirel. Voter turnout was 72.4%.^[1]

CHP's victory was the zenith of the left wing votes in the history of the Republic of Turkey but still there were no capable partners for CHP to join forces to form the government since the rest of the parliament consisted of right wing parties which were not eager to form a coalition with Bülent Ecevit. Finally, CHP couldn't gain a vote of confidence. They would have to wait until 1978 to gain support from some independents and small parties to become the head of the government. CHP couldn't keep power for long and soon government control passed on to AP even as the rumblings of the military coup were beginning to be felt.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Republican People's Party	6,136,171	41.38	213	+28
Justice Party	5,468,202	36.88	189	+40
National Salvation Party	1,269,918	8.57	24	–24
Nationalist Movement Party	951,544	6.42	16	+13
Independents	370,035	0.2	4	–2
Republican Reliance Party	277,713	1.87	3	–10
Democratic Party	274,484	1.85	1	–44
Unity Party	58,540	0.39	0	–1
Workers Party of Turkey	20,565	0.14	0	0
Invalid/blank votes	531,038	–	–	–
Total	15,358,210	100	450	0
Source: Nohlen et al.

References

1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p257 ISBN 0-19-924958-X