The trial of an in-party democracy in the chp in the single party period: The 1939 elections and “consultations” with second-round voters

Abstract

The single-party period of the Republic of Turkey began with the formal establishment of the country in 1923 and the Republican People’s Party (CHP) was the only party until 1945. In this period, almost all decisions in the party were made by Ataturk, the party leader, and an executive board under the presidency of İnönü. This executive board, including the party leader, the deputy leader of the party and the secretary general, was authorized to determine the party’s parliamentary candidates. Before the 1939 elections, Turkish MPs were selected in the headquarters of the party in Ankara without any pre-election polls or elections, and lists of candidates were submitted to voters. The 1939 elections are the first elections succeeding Atatürk’s death and İnönü’s election as president, and therefore are politically significant in some ways. Compared to previous elections, prior to the announcement of the Republican People’s Party’s candidates for MP, consultations were made with the second-round voters—who were also selected from the party list—and a meeting was organized for this purpose. This was the first time in the history of the Republican People’s Party that an exchange of opinion was even occurring at all and a significant experience for primary elections to be institutionalized. © 2017, Hacettepe University. All rights reserved.