The Republican People’s Party and the 2007 General Elections: Politics of Perpetual Decline?

Abstract: The founding party of modern Turkey continues to find it difficult to build electoral alliances and to appeal to an increasingly diversifying Turkish electorate. Although the party has maintained its electoral position in comparison to the 2002 general elections, the incumbent Justice and Development Party (AKP) has considerably increased its own vote share. While short term factors such as leadership can be cited for the electoral weakness of the Republican People's Party (CHP), this essay speculatively concludes that it is perhaps unrealistic to expect the party to revise its ultra-secularist and ultra-nationalist outlook based upon a combination of a weak track record of consolidating ideological change and the existence of political capital that remains to be gained from maintaining a rigid stance towards issues of public debate.