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| Turkey votes in election that could bolster president's powers | Turkey votes in election that could bolster president's powers |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Voters in Turkey have gone to the polls in an election that could mark a fundamental change in Turkish politics and determine the fate of the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. | Voters in Turkey have gone to the polls in an election that could mark a fundamental change in Turkish politics and determine the fate of the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. |
| Erdoğan is not on the ballot but the election is, in effect, a referendum on whether to endow his office with extraordinary powers that would significantly change Turkish democracy and prolong his reign as the country’s most powerful politician. | Erdoğan is not on the ballot but the election is, in effect, a referendum on whether to endow his office with extraordinary powers that would significantly change Turkish democracy and prolong his reign as the country’s most powerful politician. |
| While recent polls suggest that his ruling Justice and Development, or AK party, will take the most seats in parliament, the party could see a drop in votes for the first time since they took power in 2002. | While recent polls suggest that his ruling Justice and Development, or AK party, will take the most seats in parliament, the party could see a drop in votes for the first time since they took power in 2002. |
| The AK party would need to secure a two-thirds majority, or 367 seats, allowing it to rewrite the constitution without putting the changes to a referendum. According to opinion polls this looks highly unlikely. A three-fifths majority, or 330 seats, would enable the government to call a plebiscite on constitutional changes. Failing that, the AKP needs 276 seats to rule without a coalition. | |
| The outcome of the elections, however, may be determined by the leftist Peoples’ Democratic party (HDP), a group that runs on a platform defending the rights of ethnic minorities, women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. If the HDP, co-chaired by this election’s surprise star Selahattin Demirtaş, manages to get over Turkey’s unusually high 10% election threshold, they might put an end to the 13-year-long majority government of Erdoğan’s AKP, shattering his dreams of creating a more powerful executive presidency. | |
| In a polling station in the predominantly Kurdish suburb of Dolapdere in Istanbul, Hacer Dinler, 25, said that she had very high hopes for the HDP: | |
| “If they make it into parliament, everything will be better. We will have more MPs to speak for us, which in turn will strengthen the peace process.” | “If they make it into parliament, everything will be better. We will have more MPs to speak for us, which in turn will strengthen the peace process.” |
| It is the first time that the HDP has run as a party in Turkish elections and is not sending independent candidates into the race, for whom the election threshold does not apply. If they fail to garner at least 10% of the national vote, they risk not being represented in parliament at all. Recent polls show the HDP slightly above the threshold, one of the highest in the world. | |
| The high stakes of this year’s parliamentary elections are expected to mobilise a large majority of the population to cast their ballots. | The high stakes of this year’s parliamentary elections are expected to mobilise a large majority of the population to cast their ballots. |
| Aliye Goga, 39, a woman of Armenian descent, said Sunday’s elections were the first that she had voted in. | |
| “I just never saw the point before,” she explained. “Now my eyes have opened up. The HDP is the only party for women in this country, and they make realistic promises. I really want them to pass the election threshold and get into parliament.” | “I just never saw the point before,” she explained. “Now my eyes have opened up. The HDP is the only party for women in this country, and they make realistic promises. I really want them to pass the election threshold and get into parliament.” |
| Leyla Çelik, 38, a part-time student voting at a polling station in Istanbul’s conservative Fatih district, hoped for the AK party’s rule to continue. | |
| “This government has exceeded all my expectations,” she said. “We have good healthcare, and women can go to school and university with a headscarf. They are a party that treats us like human beings.” | “This government has exceeded all my expectations,” she said. “We have good healthcare, and women can go to school and university with a headscarf. They are a party that treats us like human beings.” |
| She added: “It will be better for Turkey if Erdoğan implements a presidential system. He is a good leader, and he will be able to achieve even more when he puts his own people in place, and can be in charge in the country.” | |
| Erdoğan’s wish to increase his power and the HDP’s unprecedented success has raised fears of possible election rigging by the AK party. According to a survey published by Istanbul’s Koç University in May, trust in fair elections dropped to 48% from 70% in 2007, and for many, confidence in Turkey’s electoral process has been severely shaken. | |
| Erdoğan’s divide-and-rule method to rally his religious-conservative base has led to increasing polarisation within the country, and in some cases to violence. In the runup to Sunday’s election, the HDP reported more than 70 attacks on local election offices and campaigners all over the country. On Friday, twin bombs exploded at an election rally in the main Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, killing three and wounding hundreds of others. | |
| At a polling station in Fatih, dozens of volunteer election monitors stood watch at ballot boxes. | At a polling station in Fatih, dozens of volunteer election monitors stood watch at ballot boxes. |
| “I am here to make sure everything runs smoothly and according to the rules,” said Nisan, 34, a volunteer for the civil rights platform Oy ve Ötesi (Ballot and Beyond). It is the second time he has decided to stand as an election monitor. “In my experience ballot workers still lack experience when it comes to certain questions, for example when someone else wants to help an illiterate family member vote.” | |
| He said he did not believe that large-scale election rigging was possible at the ballot boxes, but that the runup to the elections had been anything but fair. | |
| According to statistics released by the Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTÜK) last Friday, the Turkish state broadcaster TRT gave disproportionately high coverage to the ruling party. | According to statistics released by the Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTÜK) last Friday, the Turkish state broadcaster TRT gave disproportionately high coverage to the ruling party. |
| Almost 100 hours were dedicated to both Erdoğan – whose thinly veiled campaign speeches for the AK party, despite his obligation to remain neutral as the country’s president, drew widespread criticism from opposition parties – and the prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, whereas the main opposition Republican People’s party (CHP) and the Peoples’ Democratic party (HDP) received only 14 and three hours respectively. | |
| “It is impossible to speak of fair elections when the ruling party has all the advantages and all the money on its side,” Nisan said. | “It is impossible to speak of fair elections when the ruling party has all the advantages and all the money on its side,” Nisan said. |