Turkey's general elections on 7 June were neither free nor fair. They came after an electoral campaign of intimidation by the government, extreme polarisation of the electorate, and several attacks against the pro-Kurdish left-wing Democracy of the Peoples Party (HDP). The Justice & Development Party (AKP) used all available resources of the state to boost its campaign. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan transgressed the constitutional limitations on his powers and canvassed openly for the AKP.
Pro-government media shed any residue of genuine journalistic aspirations, contributing to a barrage of hate-speech far greater even than hitherto. This saw Erdoğan highlight the New York Times as a Jewish conspiracy, the HDP as a bunch of gays and lesbians and Armenian-lovers, and the rest of the opposition as illegitimate. During the election, several hundred cases of attempted vote-rigging and intimidation of the electorate were disclosed, particularly in the Kurdish provinces.
Despite such a blatant breach of democratic protocol, however, the AKP lost its absolute majority of votes and seats in parliament, more than 10% of its voter base, and most importantly, the party's air of invincibility. On election day, Turkey may have looked like a country witnessing the last moments of its weak, if insistent, democratic traditions and the advent of a Putin-style authoritarian regime. On 8 June, Turkey's democratic credentials have returned with a vengeance. After years of creeping de-democratisation and the AKP's near-hegemony, the promise of political contestation and active citizenship is back.
