The Turkish people have denied President Recep Erdogan the power to consolidate his power( by amending the constitution), to make Turkey a presidential system ( from the present parliamentary one). He needed to win at least 367 0f the 550 seats, but came up with only 258, 18 short of a majority. The AKP ( Justice Development Party) , which has been in power since 2002, must now look for a coalition partner, to remain in power. The turn out was very high at 85% of the almost 56 million eligible voters. The AKP a religious conservative party has polarised the country with its anti-women, anti LGBT, anti ethnic ( specifically Kurds) policies. The surprise was the pro-Kurdish, leftist, secular, People' Democratic Party, HDP, which elected members for the first time by going over the threshold of 10%, winning 12.5% 0f the votes and 80 seats. They campaigned for the rights of ethnic minorities, women, LGBT and secular voters. The Republican People's Party won 25% of the votes and the Nationalist Movement Party got 16.5% of the votes.
It is the end of one party dominance. It will be difficult for the AKP to find a willing coalition partner and so a period of instability is expected. Turkey has formed a united front with Saudi Arabia against Iran and Syria and wanted specifically to oust Bashar al Assad from power. It had also come under criticism for its "porous" borders whish has allowed thousands of ISIL supporters to go back and forth and had tried to stymie the Kurds in their fight against ISIL in Iraq.
Turkey is a NATO member and this election result will be of concern to Europe.
All in all, it was a great day for Turkish democracy. Erdogan was becoming more and more autocratic ( many voters were concerned about corruption) and his attempt to change the constitution to a presidential system and prolong his reign did not sit well with the great majority of voters.....59% voted against the AKP and rejected Erdogan.
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It is the end of one party dominance. It will be difficult for the AKP to find a willing coalition partner and so a period of instability is expected. Turkey has formed a united front with Saudi Arabia against Iran and Syria and wanted specifically to oust Bashar al Assad from power. It had also come under criticism for its "porous" borders whish has allowed thousands of ISIL supporters to go back and forth and had tried to stymie the Kurds in their fight against ISIL in Iraq.
Turkey is a NATO member and this election result will be of concern to Europe.
All in all, it was a great day for Turkish democracy. Erdogan was becoming more and more autocratic ( many voters were concerned about corruption) and his attempt to change the constitution to a presidential system and prolong his reign did not sit well with the great majority of voters.....59% voted against the AKP and rejected Erdogan.
5
