ABSTRACT
Since the 1950 general elections, Turkey has experienced a parliamentary system and, since 1987, it has consecutively seen free and fair elections. These elections have certainly been a locus for competition between formal powers but, in Turkey, as in many other Mediterranean democracies, they have also been ground for the interplay between formal and informal powers. In this case, formal powers are represented by political parties and state officials intending to widen their electoral base by relying on pre-existing networks rather than by fair competition in expensive electoral campaigns. On the other hand, typified by a range of local social networks, informal powers aim to extend their influence into and through formal institutions in order to widen their web of patronage and client networks.
