Turkish general election, 1999

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Turkey's 14th general election was held on Sunday 18 April 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 biggest loser was the largest party of the last election, the Virtue Party (FP), which slid back into opposition after shedding forty-seven seats and a million votes. The decline of the Republican People's Party continued, with party this time failing to cross the 10 percent election barrier to enter parliament.

Contents 1 Results 1.1 Total votes and seats for each party 2 Effects 2.1 Coalition government

[edit] Results

[edit] 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
	Democrat Turkey Party (Demokrat Türkiye Partisi)	179,871	0.58		0
	Liberal Democrat 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

[edit] Effects

[edit] 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 the most stable in many years, surviving without change until Ecevit's hospitalisation and subsequent refusal to resing in 2002 prompted a wave of resignations from the DSP and an early general election.