THE EFFECT OF SERVICE QUALITY AND TAXATION ON VOTER PREFERENCE IN LOCAL ELECTIONS: ÇANAKKALE MUNICIPALITY

Abstract

Local elections differ from general elections in terms of participation rates, voter tendencies and preferences. Voters act with sociological, psychological and economic variables when choosing to vote. Besides these variables in local elections, service quality and taxation have an important effect on voter preferences. In local elections, voters vote for the mayor candidate who they think will benefit them the most with the least cost. The mayor candidate, on the other hand, applies to local services and projects that increase the life quality of the city in order to increase his votes or be elected again. This study focuses on the preferences of the citizens in the mayoral elections in the Çanakkale Municipality 2019 local elections. In this context, a survey was conducted with 200 voters in Çanakkale province. In the study, it was found that the quality of local public services offered by Çanakkale Municipality has a significant effect on voter preferences while voters are voting in local elections, but local tax perception does not have a significant effect on voter choice. Another remarkable finding in the study is that the factors in the category of other factors (ideology, religion, character of the presidential candidate, election promises, etc.) have an important effect on voter choice.