istanbul has voted for the winning party in general elections since 1995. since 2002, the right-wing justice and development party (akp) has won pluralities in every general and local election. the city's electorate has also voted for the akp government's constitutional reforms proposed during the 2007 and 2010 constitutional referenda. turkish president and former akp prime minister recep tayyip erdo?an was elected mayor of 'stanbul in the 1994 local elections as the islamist welfare party candidate with 25.1% of the vote, winning due to a vote split between the mainstream centrist parties. conservative parties traditionally find support in older districts with high population densities such as ba?c?lar, fatih, sultanbeyli and esenler. the opposition kemalist center-left republican people's party (chp), currently the second major political force in both 'stanbul and the country, gets most of its support from more rural districts such as silivri, çatalca and sar?yer. urban districts such as be?ikta?, bak?rköy, ?i?li and kad?köy have returned strong support for the chp in past elections. the chp are generally strongest in the west, where newer residential developments are taking place. 'stanbul has 39 districts, more than any other province in turkey. since 'stanbul is turkey's largest city and has usually voted in the same way as the country as a whole, it is largely perceived in turkish politics that the winning party of an election is essentially decided by 'stanbul's electorate. political parties thus allocate substantial amounts of electoral campaign funds and to winning control of the 'stanbul metropolitan municipality. due to its electoral importance, 'stanbul has reported the largest and most serious cases of electoral fraud in recent elections, including the 2014 local elections.[192][193][194][195][196][197][198]
