What to expect in the lead-up to Turkey’s elections - analysis

Turkey’s ruling AK (“Justice and Development”) Party has scheduled elections for mid-May. The country’s last presidential election was in 2018 and prior to that in 2014, with parliamentary elections held twice in 2015. Turkey has become more authoritarian in the last two decades, with the AKP imprisoning many members of the opposition and shutting down almost all opposition media.

Some commentators think this will be the last democratic election in Turkey in which there is any semblance of democracy. Crises with Greece, the US, the European Union, Israel, Armenia and Syria could all be on the agenda before the voting begins.

Ankara’s drift into authoritarianism mirrors the same trend in other countries, such as Russia and Venezuela. Turkish voters, though, approved the various referendums that turned the country into a virtual one-party state, which makes the issue more complex. READ MORE