Does the Electoral System Foster a Predominant Party System? Evidence from Turkey

Arslantaş D., Arslantas S., KAISER A.

SWISS POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW, cilt.26, sa.1, ss.125-143, 2020 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 26 Sayı: 1
  • Basım Tarihi: 2020
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1111/spsr.12386
  • Dergi Adı: SWISS POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, IBZ Online, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, EconLit, PAIS International, Political Science Complete, Sociological abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.125-143
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: AKP, dominant party, electoral system, electoral threshold, predominant party system
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This paper discusses the role of the electoral system in making the Justice and Development Party (AKP) dominant. Drawing on Sartori's framework, we first clarify the concept of a predominant party system. Second, we examine the impact of the electoral system on the emergence of a predominant party system in Turkey. Analysing election results, we argue that the electoral system fosters dominance in three ways. First, a combination of electoral formula, national threshold and district threshold leads to over-representation of large parties and under-representation of small ones. Second, the fear of a wasted vote due to the high threshold prompts voters to support their second-best option, which concentrates the votes among large parties. Finally, the electoral system increases electoral turnout rates by extending polarization.