Communication in chamber of commerce elections

Short answer: in a chamber election, communication is aimed at members. List identity, candidate portraits, footage of visits to members and local businesses, committee-specific content, a voting guide and a campaign website are the main parts of this communication. The timetable follows the stages from the occupational committee and assembly elections to the board election.

How are chamber elections held?

Elections to the bodies of chambers of commerce, chambers of industry, chambers of commerce and industry and commodity exchanges are held under Law No. 5174 and TOBB’s regulation on body elections. Under the regulation, general elections are held every four years; they begin in October and are completed in November. The elections are held under judicial supervision by secret ballot; the judge of the district election board sets the voting hours and reviews objections.

The election is held in stages. The occupational committee and assembly elections take place on the same day; assembly members are chosen from among the occupational committee members. Once the assembly election is final, the assembly elects the board and the president. At the Gebze Chamber of Commerce, the 2026 election was scheduled in two stages on this basis: occupational committees and assembly on 3 November 2026, the board chair and members on 11 November 2026.

Who are the voters?

In a chamber election, the voters are the people listed on the electoral roll on behalf of the members registered with the chamber. The regulation also sets out conditions for voting; for example, having been registered with the chamber for at least two years as of the election date is one of them. The current electoral roll is announced by the chamber and the election board. This structure directly shapes communication: rather than mass advertising, what matters is getting the right information to a defined group of members at the right time.

List identity

In chamber elections, candidates are mostly presented as a list. The list’s name, colour and visual language should look the same on posters, leaflets, business cards, presentations and social media templates. If the portraits of the list’s candidates are shot with the same lighting and background, the list is perceived as a whole. We prepared the campaign identity and visuals for the Gebze Chamber of Commerce election with this approach.

Visits to members and local businesses

In chamber elections, much of the communication happens face to face. Filming the visits and publishing them the same day as a short video or photo series shows members who could not be visited that the list is out in the field. Before filming, permission should be obtained from the business being visited, and areas of the workplace that could count as trade secrets should be kept out of shot.

Content tailored to each committee

Chamber members are grouped into occupational committees, and each committee has its own agenda. Short films or visuals for each committee explain the list’s priorities for that sector and make it easier for members to find information relevant to their own business. In the Gebze Chamber of Commerce campaign, the committee films and the “New Projects” series were produced for this purpose.

Voting guide

For many members, a chamber election is not something they go through every year; the polling station, opening hours, the documents to bring and how to fill in the ballot are frequently asked questions. Preparing this information as a short video and a step-by-step page on the website makes things genuinely easier for members. The information must always be checked against the announcements of the chamber and the election board before publication. For the Gebze Chamber of Commerce election we produced the guide video “How to vote in the GTO election” and a step-by-step voting guide on the website.

Campaign website

The candidate’s CV, commitments, videos, press coverage, countdown and polling station information should all be in one place. Social media posts, printed material and press releases point to that address. In chambers with many exporting members, a second language is worth considering; the site we built for the Gebze Chamber of Commerce election is live in Turkish and English.

Sample calendar

Rules

In chamber elections too, content should be prepared in line with the announcements of the chamber and the election board and the opinion of your legal adviser. For details, see our chamber of commerce election campaign page and the Gebze Chamber of Commerce project page.

Sources

This information was checked against the sources below on 3 November 2026. Legislation and Supreme Election Council decisions can change with each election; before acting, rely on the current text and your legal adviser’s opinion. This article is not legal advice.

• Regulation on Elections to the Bodies of TOBB, Chambers and Exchanges (Lexpera, current text, in Turkish)
• Supreme Election Council (ysk.gov.tr): election timetables and decisions