The AKP's New Face: Assessing the September Board Vote Ahead of November's Elections
Soner Cagaptay, Cem Yolbulan, and Angelica Kilinc
October 8, 2015
The new governing board has fewer young members, fewer women, and more old-guard members with close ties to President Erdogan, who is betting that this alignment will help the party regain its legislative majority next month.
On September 12, 1,445 delegates of Turkey's governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) gathered at their annual convention to reelect Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as chairman. They also voted for the 50-seat Central Decision and Administration Committee (MKYK), the party's governing board, resulting in 31 new members -- a massive 62% turnover rate, and the first time in the AKP's history that a majority of its board members were revamped.
More:The AKP's New Face: Assessing the September Board Vote Ahead of November's Elections - The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
