Turkish ruling AKP realizes only 35 percent of its 2018 election promises

Duvar English

In its "governmentmeter (Hükümetre in Turkish)" study, the fact-checking institution Doğruluk Payı tracked 164 promises vowed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in its 2018 election manifesto. According to the results, the government in office only realized 58 of the 164 promises between 2018 and 2023.

Of the 164 promises, 100 have not materialized, the outcome of one promise has remained unclear due to the unavailability of official sources, and five promises have partially realized. The results showed that the government's fulfillment rate of its promises was around 35 percent, according to the daily BirGün. 

The election manifesto included many promises on the economy, transportation, infrastructure, employment, trade, tourism, and health sectors.

The AKP promised to bring inflation back down to single digits but could not materialize this commitment. Inflation has been stoked by a currency crisis at the end of 2021 and hit a 24-year peak of 85.51% in October 2022. This figure was 185.34 percent according to the ENAG Inflation Research Group, an independent institution set up in 2020 to track the country's “real” inflation.

The AKP, which aimed to become one of the world's top 10 economies and set a per capita national income of 25,000 dollars, has also failed to fulfill these promises.

The government, which aimed to raise the ratio of domestic savings to national income to 30 percent by 2023 and said it would reduce unregistered employment from 33.6 percent to 28 percent, was able to realize these targets.

The AKP's targets of reaching 5,034 km of highway and 25,000 km of railway network in the country have also not materialized. On the other hand, the government’s target of increasing the bridge and viaduct capacity to 673 km has realized.

The AKP said it would increase the employment rate to 53 percent and the labor force participation rate of women to 41 percent, but it has failed to achieve these targets. Nonetheless, the target of establishing 15 new industrial zones was achieved.

The government also said that the ratio of the country’s exports to imports would rise to 83 percent and that it would increase exports of goods to 300 billion dollars, yet it has failed to fulfill these commitments as well. 

The government also has failed to achieve the target of reducing the number of people per family doctor by half (2,000) by 2023.

In 2018, the AKP received 42.49% of the votes in the general election, whereas its alliance partner Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) recevied 11.13%.

Turkey will hold 2023 parliamentary and presidential elections on May 14.