Thousand Hope Candidates

The Thousand Hope Candidates (Turkish: Bin Umut Adayları) was an electoral alliance between four left-wing political parties in Turkey, formed in preparation for the 2007 general election. The alliance contested the election by fielding candidates from participating parties as independents in order to bypass the 10% election threshold needed to win seats in the Turkish Grand National Assembly. The alliance's candidates won a total of 1,334,518 votes and 22 seats in the election.[1]

Thousand Hope Candidates

Bin Umut Adayları
Founded2007
Preceded byDemocratic People's Party (2002)
Succeeded byLabour, Democracy and Freedom Bloc (2011)
IdeologySocialism
Minority rights
Kurdish nationalism
Political positionLeft wing
Colours  Purple
SloganTürkiye'ye bir sözümüz var
(We have a promise for Turkey)
Participating partiesDemocratic Society Party
Freedom and Solidarity Party
Labour Party
Socialist Democracy Party
Website
Website (dead link)

Lacking a realistic prospect of gaining parliamentary representation due to the 10% threshold, the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), the socialist libertarian Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP), the Labour Party (EMEP) and the Socialist Democracy Party (SDP) joined forces and decided to field candidates under a joint alliance, hence creating the Thousand Hope alliance.[2] The alliance stated that its candidates included individuals who could extend the appeal of the political left to the general public, having also extended support to other left-wing candidates who were not part of the four member parties.[3] The alliance fielded 65 candidates in 40 provinces.[4] The Labour Party and the Freedom and Solidarity Party fielded their own candidates in the remaining 41 provinces but fell well short of the 10% electoral threshold.

The alliance was also in favour of minority rights, having openly campaigned as 'Kurds wanting peace'. Segments of society such as the LGBT community, which the alliance claimed had faced discrimination and oppression, played a major role in alliance's election campaign. Critics branded the alliance as Kurdish nationalist, pointing to the pro-Kurdish DTP, which was the biggest of the four participating parties.[5]

A similar alliance, namely the Labour, Democracy and Freedom Bloc, was formed in preparation for the 2011 general election four years later.

General election performance

Results

Thousand Hope Candidates' performance in the 2007 general election
Participating parties Votes Seats Map
Party Leader Candidates Votes Percentage Swing Elected Seat ±
Democratic Society PartyAhmet Türk651,334,5183.81% 2.42%
22 / 550
22
Freedom and Solidarity PartyUfuk Uras
Socialist Democracy PartyAkın Birdal
Labour PartyLevent Tüzel
  • This table only shows the votes won by the Thousand Hope candidates, who stood in 40 provinces. In the remaining 41 provinces, the Freedom and Solidarity Party and the Labour Party fielded their own candidates. The votes that they won in these other provinces that were not part of the Thousand Hope candidate alliance are not shown.
  • Swing and seat change is compared to the Democratic People's Party's performance in the 2002 general election
  • Provinces won by Thousand Hope candidates are coloured purple in the map

Elected members

22 of a total of 65 candidates were elected. The combined votes won by Thousand Hope candidates were higher than any other party in the provinces of Tunceli, Diyarbakır, Muş, Iğdır, Hakkari and Şırnak. The results represented a significant swing to the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP), which made heavy gains in the Kurdish south-east were the Democratic People's Party had won back in 2002. Only 2 of the 22 Thousand Hope Candidates elected were from non-southeastern provinces, namely Ufuk Uras and Sebahat Tuncel from İstanbul's 1st and 3rd electoral district respectively. The following table shows the distribution of DTP, SDP, EMEP and ÖDP members within the 22 elected members.

Party Leader Elected
Democratic Society PartyAhmet Türk
20 / 22
Socialist Democracy PartyAkın Birdal
1 / 22
Freedom and Solidarity PartyUfuk Uras
1 / 22
Labour PartyLevent Tüzel
0 / 22
Thousand Hope total
22 / 550

The full list of members elected under the Thousand Hope banner are as follows:

Elected member Party Electoral district Vote share
Ahmet TürkDemocratic Society PartyMardin19.35%
Akın BirdalSocialist Democracy PartyDiyarbakır11.78%
Ayla Akat AtaDemocratic Society PartyBatman19.78%
Aysel TuğlukDemocratic Society PartyDiyarbakır9.44%
Bengi YıldızDemocratic Society PartyBatman19.30%
Emine AynaDemocratic Society PartyMardin15.57%
Fatma KurtulanDemocratic Society PartyVan11.80%
Gültan KışanakDemocratic Society PartyDiyarbakır12.59%
Hamit GeylaniDemocratic Society PartyHakkari17.58%
Hasip KaplanDemocratic Society PartyŞırnak24.18%
İbrahim BiniciDemocratic Society PartyŞanlıurfa6.11%
Mehmet Nezir KarabaşDemocratic Society PartyBitlis16.04%
Mehmet Nuri YamanDemocratic Society PartyMuş16.83%
Ufuk UrasFreedom and Solidarity Partyİstanbul (I)3.74%
Osman ÖzçelikDemocratic Society PartySiirt24.59%
Özdal ÜçerDemocratic Society PartyVan11.20%
Pervin BuldanDemocratic Society PartyIğdır26.90%
Sebahat TuncelDemocratic Society Partyİstanbul (III)4.54%
Selahattin DemirtaşDemocratic Society PartyDiyarbakır9.74%
Sevahir BayındırDemocratic Society PartyŞırnak29.47%
Sırrı SakıkDemocratic Society PartyMuş16.90%
Şerafettin HalisDemocratic Society PartyTunceli27.14%

Votes won by participating parties elsewhere

The Labour Party and the Freedom and Solidarity Party both fielded candidates as a party in electoral districts where the Thousand Hope Candidates did not run for election. The votes shares won by these parties are as follows.

Party Votes Seats
Votes Percentage Swing Elected Seat ±
Freedom and Solidarity Party52,0550.15% 0.19%0 0
Labour Party26,2920.08% 0.08%0 0

See also

References

  1. "DTP, kalelerinde oy kaybına uğradı / Siyaset / Milliyet Gazete". Milliyet.com.tr. 2007-07-31. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  2. Marlies Casier; Joost Jongerden (2011). Nationalisms and Politics in Turkey: Political Islam, Kemalism and the Kurdish Issue. Routledge. pp. 134–135. ISBN 978-0-203-84706-0.
  3. "Bin Umut Adayları". Archived from the original on June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  4. "Seçime bağımsız girecek "Bin Umut Adayları" tanıtıldı –". Sendika.org. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  5. "DTPs Baptism of Fire - Güneş Murat Tezcür - english". Bianet.org. 2007-07-22. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
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