Description
The role of free elections is crucial for the democratic countries in terms of the political science literature. The first general elections of the Republic of Turkey were held in 1935, and the early Republican period witnessed a one-party state in Turkish politics. Studies on voting behavior have begun in the Turkish political science literature with the transition to the multi-party system in Turkey from 1946.
The general elections that took place between 1980 and 2023 are examined and the economic voting behavior is explored in this study in terms of political developments in Turkish politics periodically.For the voters phenomena such as increasing feelings of nationalism, the transformation of the perception of foreign powers into a political tool by the government, and the pursuit of polarisation politics by making the opposition enemies, push the importance of the economic crisis for the voters towards the back of the list. It is obvious that the economic voting model was an important determinant on the Turkish voters in the elections until 2008. However, ideological factors, strong leadership analysis or other indicators replaced the economic voting model in Turkey with the serious political changes and developments after 2008. The study focuses towards this hypothesis and both qualitative and quantitative data are used together to prove the main arguments of this research. In this context, this study aims to make an important contribution by filling the gap in the literature on economic voting in Turkish politics.
