Democratic backsliding, conflict, and partisan mobilisation of ethnic groups: local government control and electoral participation in Turkey

Abstract

Partisan mobilisation is critical for constituencies with low premobilisation participation, even in countries like Turkey with generally high levels of electoral turnout. We argue that parties appealing to ethnic minority constituencies benefit disproportionately from the symbolic and material resources that local government control provides. Central government's exceptional decisions to intervene can, however, curtail access to these resources and affect electoral politics. Focusing on three Turkish elections and a referendum in 2015-2018, the article analyses how the political context of democratic backsliding and conflict affected the pro-Kurdish party's control of municipalities, their mobilisation capacity, and hence turnout. Specifically, the previously higher rate of turnout in pro-Kurdish party-controlled municipalities compared to other municipalities disappeared following the elected mayors' replacement by appointed trustees.