AK Parti marks 24 years in power since November 3, 2002

AK Parti came to power alone with 363 lawmakers after receiving 34.28 percent of the vote in the November 3, 2002 general election. On the day the party entered its 24th year in power, AK Parti shared a video carrying the message, “We chose the difficult path, not the easy one.”

Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AK Parti) marked 24 years since it came to power alone in the November 3, 2002 general election. Emerging as the leading party in its first general election, held just 15 months after its founding, AK Parti has governed Türkiye without interruption ever since.

AK Parti shared a video on its social media account to mark the anniversary. The video said, “We chose the difficult path, not the easy one. We chose the struggle,” and added: “Throughout our service journey, which began on November 3, 2002, we have delivered landmark works to our country as Türkiye’s AK Parti under the leadership of our Chairman and President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; we will continue working tirelessly for our nation with the same passion we had on the first day.”

After scenes alluding to infrastructure problems in the period before 2002, the video featured major projects such as the Yusufeli Dam. It ended with the message “A Quarter Century with Our Nation,” referring to the party’s 25th anniversary.

34.28 percent for 363 seats

Founded on August 14, 2001, AK Parti received 34.28 percent of the vote in the November 3, 2002 election. Because of the 10 percent electoral threshold, only two parties entered Parliament in the election: AK Parti won 363 seats, while CHP won 178 seats with 19.39 percent of the vote; nine independent candidates also entered Parliament. With this result, Türkiye returned to single-party rule after the era of coalition governments that had continued since the 1990s.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan casts his ballot in the November 3, 2002 election

First Gül, then Erdoğan’s government

Because Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan could not stand as a parliamentary candidate at the time due to a political ban, Abdullah Gül formed the first government. After a constitutional amendment, Erdoğan entered Parliament in the repeat election held in Siirt on March 9, 2003, and assumed the office of prime minister on March 14, 2003.

AK Parti also emerged as the leading party in subsequent general elections, receiving 46.58 percent of the vote in 2007, 49.83 percent in 2011, 40.87 percent in June 2015, 49.50 percent in November 2015, 42.56 percent in 2018 and 35.62 percent in 2023. Erdoğan became the first president elected by popular vote in 2014 and was reelected in 2018 and 2023.

Photos: Archive. Video: AK Parti

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