Is Republican People's Party left wing or right wing?

On economic organisation Republican People's Party scores −03 on a scale from −10 (common ownership) to +10 (private property and markets). On social and cultural order it scores −02. A single left–right figure combines these and four further measurements that move independently, which is why the atlas reports six.

Is Republican People's Party authoritarian?

On the organisation of power, which measures whether authority is dispersed among institutions that can stop each other or concentrated in a single centre, Republican People's Party scores −06. Return to a parliamentary system with strengthened courts and press freedom.

Atlas / Organisations / Republican People's Party

Republican People's Party

CHP · 1923– · Turkey · Social Democratic · Electoral party · coding confidence medium

−03ECcollective

−02CUpluralist

−06AUpluralist

+05SCcentral

+03IDascriptive

−06CHlawful

Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →

Core principles

Secularism, restoration of parliamentary government, rule of law, social democratic economics.

Economic model

Minimum wage rises, orthodox monetary policy, social housing, farm support.

Organisation of powers

Return to a parliamentary system with strengthened courts and press freedom.

Reading note

The founding Kemalist party, now positioned as the main constitutionalist opposition.

Check a claim about Republican People's Party. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.

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The evidence for every score

All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.

EC · Economic organisation · scored −03

Coded −3: minimum wage rises and orthodox monetary policy.

Programme textProgramme commitments to restore central bank independence and raise the minimum wage.

CU · Social and cultural order · scored −02

Coded −2: secularism as the founding commitment, with a nationalist tradition.

Programme textThe party's six arrows include secularism and republicanism.

AU · Organisation of power · scored −06

Coded −6: restoration of parliamentary government and judicial independence.

Programme textProgramme commits to reversing the 2017 executive presidency.

SC · Scale of decision · scored +05

Coded +5: a unitary republic, historically resistant to Kurdish autonomy.

Documented act or statuteThe party has moved toward cooperation with Kurdish parties in municipal elections since 2019.

ID · Rule of membership · scored +03

Coded +3: Turkish civic nationalism with a secular criterion.

ScholarshipMembership is defined by citizenship rather than descent, within a strongly national frame.

CH · Method and tempo · scored −06

Coded −6: electoral, and repeatedly the target of state action.

Documented act or statuteThe Istanbul mayor, its leading figure, was imprisoned in 2025.

Where it came from, and what came after

is a continuation ofKemalism
The founding party of the republic, now its main constitutionalist opposition.

Nearest organisations by measured distance

Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.

Countries

Turkey

Cite this page

Scores are revised on evidence, so a citation should carry the version it refers to. Version 4.3.1 is current; the revision log records every change.

McGrath, K. (2026). Republican People's Party. The Political Atlas, version 4.2. https://thepoliticalatlas.com/organisations/chp/ (accessed 2026-08-01).

Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.