Thousand Hope Candidates

Thousand Hope Candidates
Bin Umut Adayları
Founded 2007
Preceded by Democratic People's Party (2002)
Succeeded by Labour, Democracy and Freedom Bloc (2011)
Ideology Socialism
Minority rights
Kurdish nationalism
Political position Left wing
Colours      Purple
Slogan Türkiye'ye bir sözümüz var
(We have a promise for Turkey)
Participating parties Democratic Society Party
Freedom and Solidarity Party
Labour Party
Socialist Democracy Party
Website
Website (dead link)

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]

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. 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.[2] The alliance fielded 65 candidates in 40 provinces.[3] 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.[4]

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 paties Votes Seats Map
Party Leader Candidates Votes Percentage Swing Elected Seat ±
Democratic Society Party Ahmet Türk 65 1,334,518 3.81% Decrease 2.42%
22 / 550
Increase 22
Freedom and Solidarity Party Ufuk Uras
Socialist Democracy Party Akın Birdal
Labour Party Levent Tüzel

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 Party Ahmet Türk
20 / 22
Socialist Democracy Party Akın Birdal
1 / 22
Freedom and Solidarity Party Ufuk Uras
1 / 22
Labour Party Levent 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 Türk Democratic Society Party Mardin 19.35%
Akın Birdal Socialist Democracy Party Diyarbakır 11.78%
Ayla Akat Ata Democratic Society Party Batman 19.78%
Aysel Tuğluk Democratic Society Party Diyarbakır 9.44%
Bengi Yıldız Democratic Society Party Batman 19.30%
Emine Ayna Democratic Society Party Mardin 15.57%
Fatma Kurtulan Democratic Society Party Van 11.80%
Gültan Kışanak Democratic Society Party Diyarbakır 12.59%
Hamit Geylani Democratic Society Party Hakkari 17.58%
Hasip Kaplan Democratic Society Party Şırnak 24.18%
İbrahim Binici Democratic Society Party Şanlıurfa 6.11%
Mehmet Nezir Karabaş Democratic Society Party Bitlis 16.04%
Mehmet Nuri Yaman Democratic Society Party Muş 16.83%
Ufuk Uras Freedom and Solidarity Party İstanbul (I) 3.74%
Osman Özçelik Democratic Society Party Siirt 24.59%
Özdal Üçer Democratic Society Party Van 11.20%
Pervin Buldan Democratic Society Party Iğdır 26.90%
Sebahat Tuncel Democratic Society Party İstanbul (III) 4.54%
Selahattin Demirtaş Democratic Society Party Diyarbakır 9.74%
Sevahir Bayındır Democratic Society Party Şırnak 29.47%
Sırrı Sakık Democratic Society Party Muş 16.90%
Şerafettin Halis Democratic Society Party Tunceli 27.14%

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 Party
52,055
0.15%
Decrease 0.19%
0
Steady 0
Labour Party
26,292
0.08%
Increase 0.08%
0
Steady 0

See also

References

  1. "DTP, kalelerinde oy kaybına uğradı / Siyaset / Milliyet Gazete". Milliyet.com.tr. 2007-07-31. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  2. http://web.archive.org/web/20150618154646/http://www.turkcebilgi.com/bin_umut_adaylar%C4%B1. Archived from the original on June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. "Seçime bağımsız girecek “Bin Umut Adayları” tanıtıldı –". Sendika.org. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  4. "DTPs Baptism of Fire - Güneş Murat Tezcür - english". Bianet.org. 2007-07-22. Retrieved 2015-08-29.

External links

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