The Justice and Development Party (AKP) has ruled Turkey single-handedly for more than a decade, winning a solid majority in three successive elections, in 2002, 2007 and 2011.

It not only won every election, it increased its share of votes each time. In 2002, less than a year after it was founded, the AKP became a single-party government, surprising many in and outside Turkey by pulling in around 34% of the votes cast.

The 2007 election followed an acute political crisis. The staunchly secularist Turkish military, which remained the loyal watchdog of Kemalist principles, was still a very powerful element in Turkish politics in 2007. It did not embrace the idea of a president whose wife wore the Islamic headscarf. After the military staged a covert intervention, triggering the political crisis, the AKP emerged even stronger. Thanks to its majority in the parliament, the AKP amended the constitution, changed the rules for electing the president and called for earlier elections. The party won 47% in the elections, which culminated in one of its founding leaders, then-Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, becoming the 11th president of the republic.

Elections in 2011 led to another stunning victory: The AKP won by 50%. That support emboldened party leader and then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to seek to transform the political system from a largely ceremonial one to an executive presidency. He was only short a few seats to amend the constitution.