Turkish general election, 1999

Turkish general election, 1999

April 18, 1999

Total of 550 seats of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey 276 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Bülent Ecevit Devlet Bahçeli Recai Kutan Party Democratic Left MHP Virtue Leader since 15 January 1989 6 July 1997 1998 Leader's seat Istanbul Osmaniye Malatya Last election 76 seats, 14.64% no seats, 8.18% New party Seats won 136 129 111 Seat change 60 129 New Popular vote 6,919,670 5,606,583 4,805,381 Percentage 22.18% 17.97% 15.40% Swing 7.55% 9.80% New   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Mesut Yılmaz Tansu Çiller Party ANAP DYP Leader since 15 June 1991 13 June 1993 Leader's seat Rize Muğla Last election 132 seats, 19.65% 135 seats, 19.18% Seats won 86 85 Seat change 46 50 Popular vote 4,122,929 3,745,417 Percentage 13.22% 12.01% Swing 6.43% 7.17%

Prime Minister before election Bülent Ecevit DSP Elected Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit DSP

Turkey's 14th general election was held on Sunday April 18, 1999 and was the first election in Turkish history to combine local, council and parliamentary elections on the same day. Bülent Ecevit's Democratic Left Party (DSP), soaring in popularity after the capture of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, emerged as the biggest party and swept the board in most of Turkey's western provinces. It failed, however, to obtain an overall majority, and did not do nearly as well in the eastern provinces.

The second largest party (dubbed "the second winner" by the press the following day) became the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which performed strongly nationwide, producing MPs from nearly all of the country's 81 provinces. The largest party of the last election, the Virtue Party (FP), returned to opposition after shedding forty-seven seats and a million votes. The decline of the Republican People's Party continued; this was the first time the party failed to exceed the 10 percent threshold for parliamentary representation.

Results

Total votes and seats for each party

Parties		Votes			Seats
		No.	%	+− %	No.	+−
	Democratic Left Party (Demokratik Sol Parti)	6,919,670	22.19	+7.55	136	+60
	Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi)	5,606,583	17.98	+9.8	129	+129
	Virtue Party (Fazilet Partisi)	4,805,381	15.41	-5.97	111	-47
	Motherland Party (Anavatan Partisi)	4,122,929	13.22	-6.43	86	-46
	True Path Party (Doğru Yol Partisi)	3,745,417	12.01	-7.13	85	-50
	Republican People's Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi)	2,716,094	8.71	-2.00	0	-49
	People's Democracy Party (Halkın Demokrasi Partisi)	1,482,196	4.75	+0.58	0	0
	Great Union Party (Büyük Birlik Partisi)	456,353	1.46		0
	Freedom and Solidarity Party (Özgürlük ve Dayanışma Partisi)	248,553	0.80		0
	Democratic Turkey Party (Demokrat Türkiye Partisi)	179,871	0.58		0
	Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Demokrat Parti)	127,174	0.41		0
	Democrat Party (Demokrat Parti)	92,093	0.30		0
	Nation Party (Millet Partisi)	79,370	0.25	-0.20	0
	Peace Party (Barış Partisi)	78,922	0.25		0
	Workers' Party (İşçi Partisi)	57,607	0.18	-0.04	0
	Labour Party (Emek Partisi)	51,756	0.17		0
	Rebirth Party (Yeniden Doğuş Partisi)	44,787	0.14	-0.20	0
	Socialist Government Party (Sosyalist İktidar Partisi)	37,680	0.12		0
	Changing Turkey Party (Değişen Türkiye Partisi)	37,175	0.12		0
	Democracy and Peace Party (Demokrasi ve Barış Partisi)	24,620	0.08		0
	Independents	270.265	0.87	+0.39	3	+3
No. of valid votes		31,184,496	100,00		550	0
Invalid votes		1,471,574
Electorate size		37,495,217
Voter turnout		87.09%
Results for the Virtue Party (FP) compare with the Welfare Party (RP) in the previous election. Source: BBC Turkish Service

Effects

Coalition government

Bülent Ecevit formed the country's latest coalition government, against the FP, with the second-placed MHP and the fourth-placed motherland Party (ANAP) as a junior partner. The DYP was consulted during coalition negotiations, but ended up in opposition. The DSP-MHP-ANAP coalition turned out to be one of the most stable in many years, surviving without change until Ecevit's hospitalisation and subsequent refusal to resign in 2002 prompted a wave of resignations from the DSP and an early general election.