It’s been one year since the European Parliament inaugurated its eighth legislature on 1 July 2014. Whenever the question of the lack of democratic legitimacy is mentioned—a problem almost unanimously acknowledged in the Union—everybody turns to the European Parliament as the entity called to be the solution.
It was surely a night to remember for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his AKP party. The ruling party is set to lose its majority in the Turkish Parliament. Ever since he took office in 2014, and even as Prime Minister before, President Erdoğan has been looking to boost his powers, hoping to turn Turkey into a presidential republic. The results of the 7 June vote sink Erdoğan’s ambitions, as he suffers probably the biggest setback in 13 years of high-level politics. His power-hungry move, reinforced Islamization and eagerness to expand his reach appear to have alienated many voters who perceive Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a threat to a secular and democratic state
By Yanni Gigourtsis
A few hours separate us from perhaps the most critical elections in Turkey since the establishment of the multiparty parliamentary system in the late 1940s. Once again, as in the last 15 years, the protagonist in this year’s election–as it should not, at first reading – is the country’s President and, for many years, Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In the 7 June elections, however, the stakes are higher for the political future of the Turkish President. It is the future of the country and the course it will take in the coming decades that will be decided. Let me explain.
By Deniz Torcu
On Sunday, 7 June, Turkey will go to the ballot box to elect 550 members of its Grand National Assembly. This will be the 24th general election in the Republic of Turkey and, surely, one of the most important in the country’s history. While it is likely that the current Islamist ruling party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), will be the winner of the elections, the margin with which they win will be the big question.
By Deniz Torcu
For many people, seeing the president of a democratic republic, who is obliged to be “non-partisan” according to his country’s constitution, publicly bashing the main political opposition parties in government while waving a religious text in his hand is something that comes as a shock and is difficult to comprehend. For Turkish citizens, this is a regular day.
This Sunday Spain goes to the polls. Municipal councils and the governments of most of Spain´s autonomous regions (not Catalonia and the Basque Country, though, which hold their regional elections on different dates) are up for grabs. Beyond the local impact, what everybody is watching for in these elections is the likely redistribution of Spain´s nationwide political preferences, in anticipation of the general election due before the end of 2015. A political earthquake may be in the making with long-lasting consequences for Spain, and for Spain´s input into the European integration process.
Elections on Sunday for the Parliament of the Autonomous Region of Andalusia, in the South of Spain, provided a first reality check of the strength of the new political party Podemos. In the Andalusian Parliament, Podemos will start its journey as the third force, with 15 deputies out of 109. The question remains what will happen in Spain´s general election due at the end of 2015.
The liberal, pro-European and pro-NATO Estonian Reform Party led by Prime Minister Taavi Roivas and his partners in government, the Social Democrats, won the 1 March 2015 parliamentary elections, although they will need to seek the support of a third political force to stay in power. The Centre Party, led by Edgar Savisaar, has garnered more votes among Russian speakers. The elections were marked by security concerns and fears of a repeat of the Ukraine conflict in the Baltic region.
By Jasmina Dimitrieva
Are elections and democracy one and the same thing? Not only voters, but also elected officials sometimes confuse democracy with elections. Such mental attitude sees the internationally guaranteed right to public participation in decision-making reduced to elections. The inherent risk is that public participation in the formulation and implementation of public polices for common good, as enunciated in the constitutions of Europe, remains a philosophical concept, with the elections as a sole manifestation of democracy on the physical plan. While looking at the other side of the coin, it seems beyond imagination nowadays to have in place a democratic system of governance without first holding elections, and without a meaningful parliamentary opposition.
When the Greek conservative party failed to gather the necessary 180 votes to elect a president in the third parliamentary vote, snap elections were called, and the European press diagnosed a political crisis. Within days it became evident that this was not the case. Elections were set for 25 January.
