In Turkey, the aftermath of the March 30th local elections is almost as tense and controversial as the election campaign we have just left behind. \u00a0With a presidential election due in August and a general election in the summer of 2015, a 15-month long cycle of heated political debate and further polarization seem inevitable.<\/p>\n
Speculation about who might be the next president is already in full swing but before we can move on to discussing the next election, we have to tie the loose ends of the previous one.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Electoral Board\u2019s final announcement of the official results is expected to take several days. Although the picture is pretty clear nationwide about the overall winner, it is equally obvious that there have been serious violations and irregularities during the vote and the count afterwards. As a matter of priority, officials have to come up with satisfactory answers to these fraud allegations. Without it, Turkey is beginning to look like a country where it is not the people casting the votes decide the outcome of the election but those counting the votes. The authorities that talked so much on \u201cthe sanctity of the ballot box\u201d have some urgent answers to give to the public.<\/p>\n
The next step before launching the debate about the presidency has got to be to clear up the graft allegations. The Prime Minister may declare the local election result as a vindication of his government and family but it is only an independent court that can come to this conclusion.<\/p>\n
With his ungracious, threatening balcony speech while standing side by side with those still under the shadow of accusations, Mr Erdogan already made it crystal clear he sees himself above the law. His comments following the Constitutional Court ruling lifting the ban on Twitter have confirmed it.<\/p>\n
“I don’t find it right and patriotic that the Constitutional Court has adopted such a decision,” Mr Erdogan said, adding his government had complied with the ruling but he personally did not respect it.<\/p>\n
We are seeing a Prime Minister, with his sights firmly on the presidency, showing no respect for democratic institutions and the rule of the law.\u00a0 His increasingly harsher language is deepening the divisions in the country.<\/p>\n
The first part of the 15 month-long election cycle became one of the most polarising periods in Turkey\u2019s recent history. If the style of politics by its leaders do not change in coming months, Turkey will be facing a more dangerous phenomenon than the political division we are witnessing now- that of a social polarization with much more serious consequences.<\/p>\n
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