The Social Perception of Electors Regarding People’s Alliance Between AK Party and MHP Before the 2018 General Elections

This study embodies an investigation aimed at an understanding of the social perception of electors regarding the people’s alliance between AK Party and MHP before the 2018 general elections, which is considered as an important threshold within the Turkish political life. Theoretical framework of this study is based on the voting behavior, a notion that provides legitimacy to democratic systems since people have right to choose their ruling elite in democracies. Considering the complex nature of voting behavior, there is also a necessity to focus on the effect of the dialectical relationship between media and political institutions. The methodology used in the study is in-depth interview technique which is among the qualitative research methods. Within this framework, in-depth interviews are conducted with fifteen participants of different ages, genders, levels of education and political views, all of whom are AK Party, MHP and CHP electors. In order to gain insight into the social perception of participants regarding the alliance, eighteen pre-prepared questions, five of which is on demographic characteristics, have been addressed and electors’ social perception on the alliance is analyzed based on the participants’ evaluations. While participants made differing evaluations on the alliance within the framework of their political and cultural characteristics, it is seen that media is a determinant in their perception regarding the people’s alliance