2002 Turkish general election

The 15th Turkish general election was held on 3 November 2002 following the collapse of the DSP-MHP-ANAP coalition led by Bülent Ecevit. It was the 15th general election to be held in Turkey. All 550 members of the Grand National Assembly were up for election.

2002 Turkish general election

3 November 2002
Total of 550 seats of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey 276 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	79.14%[1] 8.0pp
First party Second party   Leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Deniz Baykal Party AK Party CHP Leader since 14 August 2001 30 September 2000 Leader's seat Could not contest Antalya Last election New party 0 seats, 8.71% Seats before 59 3 Seats won 363 178 Seat change 304 175 Popular vote 10,808,229 6,113,352 Percentage 34.28% 19.39% Swing 34.28 pp 10.68 pp
Winners according to provinces:      AKP        CHP        DEHAP        Independents
Prime Minister before election Bülent Ecevit DSP Elected Prime Minister Abdullah Gül AK Party

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The election was held during an ongoing economic crisis which followed the 2001 financial crash, which resulted in a deep resentment of coalition governments which had governed the country since the 1980 military coup. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Republican People's Party (CHP) had massive gains, transitioning from the multi-party parliament under a DSP-MHP-ANAP coalition government elected in 1999 to a two-party system ruled by the AKP and CHP, with no other parties winning any seats in parliament, only nine independents being elected, and the AKP and CHP combined winning 98.36% seats of parliament. The Justice and Development Party (AKP), which had only been formed in August 2001 by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, won the election with nearly two-thirds of the seats. The protest vote was such that every sitting party previously represented in parliament was ejected, with the AKP winning 363 seats with just 34.3% of the vote. The only other party which passed the 10% threshold to gain representation was the Republican People's Party, which came second with 19.38% of the vote and 178 seats. The election produced Turkey's first single party government since 1987 and the country's first two-party parliament since 1961.

The moderate Islamism advocated by the AKP was at odds with the secular establishment of the Republic of Turkey. While serving as the Mayor of Istanbul, Erdoğan was sentenced to a 10 month prison term in 1998 for reciting a poem in Siirt which incited racial intolerance. This barred him from initially seeking a seat in parliament, meaning that the AKP's co-founder Abdullah Gül became Prime Minister following their election victory. With the help of the CHP, the government overturned Erdoğan's political ban in 2003, after which he was able to seek a seat in a controversial by-election in the Province of Siirt. Erdoğan became Prime Minister in March 2003, with Abdullah Gül concurrently assuming the role of Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.