Seçimler, demokratik yapıların beraberinde getirdiği hem önemli bir hak, hem de yerine getirilmesi gereken bir yükümlülüktür. Belirli birtakım şartları taşıyarak seçmen hüviyeti kazanmış bireylerin yönetsel yapıya sinen iradelerinin, tercihlerinin tezahürüdür. Demokratik yapıda daha dar kapsamda gerçekleştirilen yerel seçimler ise, yerel yönetime ilişkin bir irade beyanı niteliği taşımakta, bireyin özgürce yaptığı yerel bir siyasi tercihi ortaya koymaktadır. Bireyin kararına etki edebilmenin tek yolunun onu ikna etmek olduğu bu yapıda, yerel seçim kampanyaları ikna işlevini üstlenen yegane enstrümanlardır. Söz konusu enstrümanlar ne denli etkili kullanılabilirse, seçmen tercihine o kadar etkide bulunulabilir ve yerel seçimden istenen başarı o denli elde edilebilir. Bu bağlamda, yerel seçim kampanyalarının seçmen tercihi üzerindeki etkisine odaklanan çalışma, Sivas örneğinde gerçekleştirilen bir alan araştırmasına dayanmaktadır. Araştırmadan elde edilen veriler göstermektedir ki, yerel seçim kampanyaları yerel seçimler için gerekli, seçmenin aday tercihinde etkili ve genel seçim kampanyaları kadar özen gösterilmesi gereken kampanyalardır. Bu kampanyaların aktardığı bilgiler güvenilirlik açısından genel itibariyle sorunlu olarak algılanmakta, halkı kutuplaştırması, kaynak israfı ve gürültü kirliliği en olumsuz yanı olarak ön plana çıkmaktadır. Kampanya yapısına, yapılacak icraatlara, iletişim araç ve yöntemlerine, partiye, hassasiyet gösterilecek konulara, başkan adayına ve siyasi rakiplere ilişkin unsurlar farklı düzeyde de olsa etkileşimsel bir biçimde yerel seçim kampanyasının başarısında rol oynamakta; söz konusu kampanyalar seçmenler üzerinde daha çok ilgilendirici, bilgilendirici, yönlendirici ve pekiştirici bir işlev üstlenmektedir

Elections, which democratic structures bring about, lead both to an important right and a liability to be fulfilled. For the sustainability of the existing democratic structures, elections are held at regular intervals and according to predetermined criteria and legal regulations. Only in this way, can the will and preferences of the individuals who acquire a franchise by possessing requisite qualifications, be reflected in a governmental structure. Local elections, which are held in a narrower scope in democratic structure, indicate the declaration of intention with regard to local government and present local political preferences individuals makes freely. In this respect, local elections, in which local political actors are elected is not very much different from general elections with the political atmosphere, contacts established with electorates, the activities engaged in and success or failure that comes as a result of these activities. During local elections two way interactions with voters are established and campaigns aiming to persuade electorates are carried out to affect their voting behaviors. In this context where the only way to influence individuals decisions is persuasion, local election campaigns are the only instruments that can fulfill the function of persuasion. The more influential these instruments are, the more influential they can be on voters’ choice, and thus the more successful parties will be in local elections. Based on these presuppositions, the study, which aims to reveal the effects of local election campaigns on voters, is based on field research in Sivas sample. In this study, which is in general survey model, purposeful sampling was used and face-to-face interviews were conducted with voters. Data were collected by asking multi-dimensional question to voters in Sivas with regard to their assessments of local election campaigns. In this context, the study sought to answer the following research questions: Research Question 1: What are the views of participants with regard to local election campaigns and to what extend views are determined by the profile of participants? Research Question 2: What elements of local election campaigns do participants attach importance to and to what extend are they valued? Research Question 3: What kind of distribution do valued elements of Local Election Campaigns show in terms of participant profile? Research Question 4: What functions do local election campaigns fulfill and to what extend are these function fulfilled? The results of the study can be summarized as follows:Local election campaigns have potential effect on voters’ candidate preferences. It was found that those who are strongly linked to the party they think of voting for, who show great interest to politics, artisans and self-employed people are more influenced from local election campaigns. There is a common opinion that local election campaigns are given as much importance as general elections and local election campaigns are necessary for local elections. Those who are strongly tied to the party they think of voting for, those who show strong interest in politics, those who position themselves in the left, industrialists-tradesmen, retired people, students and self-employed people believe more profoundly that local election campaigns are necessary for local elections. Local election campaigns are generally perceived to be problematic in terms of the reliability of the information they transmit. In line with this, it was found that those who are strongly linked to the party, those who show strong interest in politics, housewives, artisans and women have more optimistic views with regard to the information transmitted in local election campaigns. The most negative sides of local election campaigns are that they polarize people, cause waste of resources and noise pollution. While male voters focus on waste of resources and polarization of people as negative sides of campaigns, female voters emphasize polarization of people and noise pollution. For married people the most negative sides are the waste of resources and polarization of people, while single people emphasize polarization of people and noise pollution as negative sides. Those aged between 18 and 28 emphasize polarization of people and noise pollution, according to those aged between 29 and 39 waste of resources and polarization of people are the most negative sides and for those aged between 40 and 50 polarization of people and waste of resources are the most negative sides. Those aged 51 and above emphasize noise pollution and waste of resources as the most negative sides of local elections. The elements regarded important in local election campaigns are categorized under seven headings: campaign’s structure, actions to be taken, means and methods of communication, the party, the issues to be sensitive to, the mayor candidate, and political rivals. Although they have different levels of influence, all of these elements play an interactional role in the success of local election campaigns. In this context, those who show very high interest in politics value the elements of campaign structure more compared to those who show very weak interest in politics. Besides, those whose monthly family income is between 1001 and 2000 TL compared to those whose monthly family income is 3001 TL and above and female voters compared to male voters value the elements with regard to campaign structure more. Those who are very strongly and strongly tied to the party they think of voting for regard the elements with regard to the actions to be taken more important compared to those who are very weakly linked to the party. Those who are strongly, very strongly or mildly linked to the party they think of voting for value means and methods of communication more compared to those who are very weakly linked to their party. Those who show high, very high or mild interest in politics value means and methods of communication more compared to those who show very low interest in politics. And those who show high interest in politics value means and methods of communication compared to those mildly interested in politics. Those who position themselves to the left or center-right value means and methods of communication compared to those who does not position themselves in any category and those aged between 18 and 28 value means and methods of communication more than those aged 51 and above. Those who are very strongly, strongly, weakly and mildly tied to the party they think of voting for, value party related issues more than those who are very weakly tied to the party they think of voting for. Those who are very strongly linked to the party they vote for value party related to issues more compared to those who are mildly linked to the party. Those who are highly interested in politics value party related to issues more compared to those who are mildly interested in politics. Those who position themselves in the center-left, radical right and center-right value party related to issues more than those who do not position themselves in any category and women value party related to issues more compared to men. There is no significant difference in terms of the issues to be sensitive to according to participant profile. Those who are very strongly linked to the party they vote for attach more importance to the issues related to mayor candidate compared to those who are very weakly or mildly linked to their parties. Those who show strong interest in politics attach more importance to the issues related to mayor candidates compared to those who have mild level interest to politics. Those who are very strongly and strongly attached to the party they think of voting for perceive elements with regard to political rivals more important compared to those who are very weakly linked. Those who feel very strongly attached to their parties perceive elements with regard to political rivals more important compared to those who feel mildly attached to their parties. Those who show very strong interest in politics perceive elements with regard to political rivals more important compared to those who show very weak and mild level of interest. Besides, those who show strong interest in politics perceive elements with regard to political rivals more important compared to those who show very weak, mild level or weak interest in politics. Those who position themselves in center-left, radical right and center right perceive elements with regard to political rivals more important compared to those who do not position themselves anywhere. Literate voters perceive elements with regard to political rivals more important compared to primary school graduates. Those whose monthly family income level is between 1001 and 2000 TL perceive elements with regard to political rivals more important compared to those whose monthly family income level is 3001 TL and above. It is thought that local election campaigns fulfill their functions at a medium level it mostly fulfilled its interest attracting, informative, directive and consolidating function, and fulfill its educational, transformational, entertaining and socializing function at the lowest level. In this context, for the success of local election campaigns the followings are the basic criteria: campaigns are to be conducted according to the region or city, micro level and region specific action plans should be adopted, rigorous and detailed plans should be developed, an effective campaign team should be organized, steps to be taken in short, medium and long term are to be planned carefully, application of this plan should be checked and the people who carry out the campaign should have the consciousness that they are not alone in local elections and that they are in a contest for votes with different rivals.