1999 Turkish general election

General elections were held in Turkey on Sunday, 18 April 1999. For the first time, local, council and parliamentary elections were held on the same day. Bülent Ecevit's Democratic Left Party (DSP) had been soaring in popularity after the capture of Kurdistan Worker's Party (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.

1999 Turkish general election

18 April 1999

All 550 seats in the Grand National Assembly
276 seats needed for a majority
Turnout87.09% (1.89pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Bülent Ecevit Devlet Bahçeli Recai Kutan
Party DSP MHP FP
Last election 14.64%, 76 seats 8.18%, 0 seats 21.38%, 158 seats
Seats won 136 129 111
Seat change 60 129 47
Popular vote 6,919,670 5,606,583 4,805,381
Percentage 22.19% 17.98% 15.41%
Swing 7.55pp 9.80pp 5.97pp

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Mesut Yılmaz Tansu Çiller
Party AP DYP
Last election 19.65%, 132 seats 19.18%, 135 seats
Seats won 86 85
Seat change 46 50
Popular vote 4,122,929 3,745,417
Percentage 13.22% 12.01%
Swing 6.43pp 7.17pp

Results by province

Prime Minister before election

Bülent Ecevit
DSP

Elected Prime Minister

Bülent Ecevit
DSP

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 and the only time in the history of the republic when the party failed to cross the 10 percent threshold for parliamentary representation. This was the last election which produced a hung parliament until the June 2015 general election.

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