 In May 1994, Kurdish lawyer Murat Bozlak formed the People's Democracy Party (HADEP), which won 1,171,623 votes, or 4.17% of the national vote during the general elections on 24 December 1995 and 1,482,196 votes or 4.75% in the elections on 18 April 1999, but it failed to win any seats due to the 10% threshold.During local elections in 1999 they won control over 37 municipalities and gained representation in 47 cities and hundreds of districts.In 2002 the party became a member of Socialist International.