Current Position
The Republican People's Party is currently a centre-leftist political party with traditional ties to the middle and upper-middle classes such as white collar workers, retired generals, government bureaucrats, academics, college students, left-leaning intellectuals and labor unions such as DİSK, and well-to-do entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, the loose relationship between CHP and some trade unions, business chambers and most non-governmental organisations alienated many voters. The distance between the party administration and many leftist grassroots, especially left oriented Kurdish voters, contributed to the party's shift away from the political left towards authoritarianism.
Despite heavy criticism from liberal and libertarian socialist interest groups, CHP still holds a significant position in the Socialist International as well as being an associate member of the Party of European Socialists. CHP urged the Socialist International to accept Republican Turkish Party of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as an observer member.
At the 2007 general election CHP ran in alliance with Democratic Left Party. CHP suffered a heavy defeat, getting 7,300,234 votes (20.85% of the total). CHP, YTP, and DSP combined got 21.77% of the votes back in 2002. The party could become first only in three provinces in Thrace (Edirne, Tekirdağ, Kırklareli) and two provinces on the Aegean coast (İzmir, Muğla). With these results, 112 candidates (13 of these MPs are DSP affiliates) were elected to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey from the CHP electoral sheet compared to 178 in 2002.
CHP increased its vote share from 20.9% to 23.1% in the 2009 municipal elections. The party gained considerable ground by winning Antalya, Giresun, Zonguldak, Sinop, Tekirdag, Aydin despite losing Trabzon municipality. In 20 provinces of Turkey, the party received less than 3% of the votes.
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