ABSTRACT
When does a political party stop chasing more votes and more power? Why do voters in both established democracies such as Japan and new democracies such as Mexico keep reelecting the same party? What strategies do the single parties employ in order to ensure their dominance?
The Turkish party system has been shaped by a dominant party system in the last three consecutive elections, raising the question of what conditions led to the emergence and endurance of the dominant party system. By employing sociological, institutional, and strategic explanations, this chapter tackles the following questions: why the AKP entered the ethnic dimension when initiating the Kurdish opening process and whether the party achieved its aim. The analysis of the last three election results and constitutional referendum provide evidence confirming the hypothesis that the dominant party employed both vote- and policy-seeking strategies. The party aims to attract the median voter and wants to integrate the ethnic dimension to the main issue dimension in Turkish politics, which is the secular versus pro-Islamist dimension. The ultimate aim of the AKP is to introduce presidentialism with a two-party system, in order to ensure its dominance.
