Today, voters in Turkey will begin the process of deciding whether to continue the increasingly authoritarian rule of Putin pal President Recep Tayyip Erdogan or turn back to democracy:
Voters are headed to the polls this Sunday in Turkey for the country’s general election, which has been described as the most consequential global election contest of the year.
The stakes are incredibly high for the country and the world, and for incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is narrowly trailing in the polls as he seeks a third term. The head of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, has been in power for over 20 years and is the country’s longest-serving leader.
But the stakes are also high for the opposition, which at last appears to have a real shot at victory.
Opponents have never been “this close in terms of public sentiment to winning an election, to unseating Erdogan,” said Merve Tahiroğlu, Turkey program director at the Project on Middle East Democracy.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the center-left Republican People’s Party, or CHP, was picked to face off with Erdogan by the Table of Six, a coalition made up of six opposition parties. [snip]
The election is tight, but Erdogan is currently behind in the polls, given the state of the Turkish economy as well as his government’s handling of the devastating earthquake in February.
Sinan Ogan, who was put forward as a candidate by the far-right ATA Alliance party, is also still in the presidential race.
If no candidate secures 50% of the vote in the first round, there will be a runoff contest on May 28.
Ersin Kalaycioglu, a professor of political science at Istanbul’s Sabanci University, told The New York Times voters are essentially facing a choice between “going down the road to authoritarianism or switching track and going back to democracy.”...
Ending Erdogan's despotic rule would be a major victory, not only for the Turkish people, but for Europe (NATO and the EU, specifically) and the United States, which could more easily partner with a new Turkish government that upheld democratic norms and worked to strengthen the Western alliance in the face of rising regional authoritarianism. It's an open question whether Erdogan will recognize the results of the election should he not prevail (see fellow thugs the Malignant Loser and Brazil's Bolsonaro). You can also imagine war criminal Putin creating as much mischief as he can in order to save his friend and sometime- partner.
The polls show a close election, with Kilicdaroglu's coalition having a small lead. But, as in America, polls don't vote, people do. Let's hope the polls are ignored and Turks turn out to turn out Erdogan!
(Image: Financial Times)
