Turkish Elections
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Turkish elections from the Ottoman parliaments of 1877 to the runoff of 2023 — the single-party era labelled as such, the White Revolution of 1950, three coups and their shadows, and the fiercely contested but tilted elections of the Erdoğan era.
Parliamentary elections
34
1877–2023, from the Ottoman Chamber to today
Presidential elections
22
1923–2023, direct since 2014
President today
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
re-elected 2023 in a runoff
The White Revolution
1950
single-party rule ended in one day
Presidential elections
All 22contests for the Turkish presidency, newest first — the single-party rituals and the Assembly's votes labelled as such, the 1980 deadlock that ended in a coup, and the direct elections of the Erdoğan era with their tilted playing field stated plainly.
The direct-election era · 2014–2023
Turks have elected their president directly since 2014, and all three contests have been won by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The elections remain genuinely competitive — 2023 went to a runoff — but they are no longer fair: state resources, broadcast dominance and jailed opponents tilt the field long before polling day.
Elected by the Assembly · 1950–2007
From the multiparty breakthrough until 2007, parliament chose the president — sometimes routinely, sometimes catastrophically: the deadlock of 1980 ran more than a hundred ballots and ended in a coup, and the 2007 crisis over Abdullah Gül's election triggered the switch to direct voting.
The single-party presidencies · 1923–1946
For the Republic's first quarter-century the Grand National Assembly elected the president unopposed: Atatürk four times, then İnönü. There was one party, one candidate and one outcome — these votes are recorded as the rituals of the founding regime, not contests.
Parliamentary elections
Every parliamentary election, newest first — from the Ottoman Chamber of 1877 through the single-party era, the multiparty decades and their coups, to the Grand National Assembly of today.
The AKP era · 2002–2023
The 2002 earthquake left every governing party below the threshold and gave the new AKP two-thirds of the seats with a third of the vote. Five further victories followed — through the 2015 double election, the state-of-emergency vote of 2018 and the tilted but fiercely contested elections of 2023.
Under the coup's shadow · 1983–1999
The 1980 junta rewrote the rules before handing power back: banned parties, vetted candidates and a 10% national threshold. Özal's ANAP won the constrained 1983 election; the old leaders returned by referendum in 1987, and the 1990s fragmented into short-lived coalitions.
The multiparty decades · 1950–1977
The 1950 election ended a quarter-century of single-party rule in a single day — the DP's 'White Revolution'. Democracy held through rapid growth and deep polarisation, punctured by the coups of 1960 and 1971 and ending in the violence-soaked deadlock of the late 1970s.
The single-party era · 1923–1946
For two decades the Republican People's Party was the only party on the ballot, and elections were two-stage affirmations of its list. The 1946 vote allowed an opposition for the first time — held with open ballots and secret counting, and rigged in the ruling party's favour.
The founding Assembly · 1920
With Istanbul occupied and the empire dying, the 1920 elections assembled the Grand National Assembly in Ankara — the revolutionary parliament that fought the War of Independence and proclaimed the Republic.
The Ottoman experiments · 1877–1919
The Ottoman Empire held the Muslim world's first parliamentary elections in 1877 — twice in one year — before the sultan shelved the constitution for three decades. The Young Turk restoration of 1908 revived the Chamber, the 'big-stick' election of 1912 corrupted it, and the 1919 vote was the empire's last.
The long arc in charts
The multiparty era since 1950. Hover any point for the exact figure.
Turnout since 1950
Turkish turnout is among the world's highest without strict enforcement — near 90% in the fiercest contests, and above 85% in every vote of the past decade.
The AKP's two decades
From the 2002 threshold earthquake to 2023: the 2011 peak near 50%, the June 2015 loss of the majority, and the November 2015 recovery that set the template for the era.
Records & superlatives
Highest turnout
93.3%
1987 general election
Lowest turnout
64.3%
1969 general election
Highest vote share
58.4%
Democrat Party, 1954
Highest presidential turnout
86.2%
2018 presidential election
The Muslim world's first parliament
1877
the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies, elected twice in one year
Ballots in the failed 1980 election
100+
six months of deadlock, ended by the September coup
How Turkish elections work
The executive presidency
Since the 2017 referendum, the directly elected president is head of state and government: a majority in round one or a runoff a fortnight later. Parliament is elected the same day — and the alliances that contest both races are the system's real machinery.
The threshold's long shadow
The 1980 junta's 10% national threshold — lowered to 7% in 2022 — was designed to keep small parties out. In 2002 it wiped every governing party from parliament at once; today's alliance rules exist largely to route around it.
Coups as punctuation
The army removed elected governments in 1960, 1971, 1980 and 1997. Each coup rewrote the electoral rules; the eras in this hub follow those ruptures, and the constrained votes that followed them carry their labels.
Competitive, not fair
Turkey's recent elections are real contests with mass turnout and opposition victories — Istanbul fell to the opposition twice in 2019 — fought on a field tilted by state media, imprisoned politicians and emergency rule. The entries record both halves of that truth.