The People’s Alliance Ahead of the May 14, 2023 Elections

The People’s Alliance’s senior members, the AK Party and the MHP, have worked together seamlessly since the very beginning. They did not allow crises to erupt ahead of the 2023 elections either. In this sense, the People’s Alliance demonstrated unity – whereas the Nation Alliance was bogged down in internal strife. It is possible to argue that the ruling alliance could signal unity mainly due to its perception by the electorate as a sincere and straightforward group. Specifically, the People’s Alliance did not pursue short-term interests or signal its intention to change its course when it could negotiate from a position of strength. Another contributing factor was the complete agreement between the AK Party and the MHP on the ‘presidency’ system of government. Whereas the Nation Alliance pledged to adopt an ‘augmented’ parliamentary system, Erdoğan and Bahçeli insisted that Türkiye must not drift away from its current political system. Accordingly, one might argue that the People’s Alliance shall remain intact unless one of those two movements changes its mind about the presidential system. That is obviously not the only factor, yet there is reason to believe that the AK Party and the MHP will continue to collaborate as long as the former’s policies and vision for the future appeal to the partner.