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Opinion
January 25, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 26
he will this time have a plan in response to AKP supporters taking to the streets with machine guns before election day vote-counting ends. He is busy, perhaps, with how he will distribute seats in Izmir, one city traditionally held by his party.
One controversial amendment to electoral law has extended the terms in office granted to YSK members, Deutsche Welle reported on January 3. The YSK indulges in the most fascinating interpretations of what is and is not allowed, such as the inclusion of unstamped ballots in results (allowed). Sometimes, it appears to act as a legislating body. Again: more information is available in those OSCE reports.
In the capital Ankara, AKP candidate Mehmet Ozhaseki has been appointing new officials to the municipality even before the election has taken place, Saygi Ozturk wrote on December 28 in his column for daily Sozcu.
“Turkey has walked an upward path over the last 16 years and will continue that rise... But there are traps lying ahead of us again. Take a look
at the events we've faced in the last five or six years. Which of them could be the work of minds
thinking of this country and the nation's interests? Look at the Gezi protests of 2013 or FETO's [Fethullah Terror Organisation’s) coup attempt
in 2016," Erdogan said on January 19 during an election rally in Samsun.
“Doleful story”
“Turkey is a textbook example of democratic deconstruction legitimised at the ballot box. It is a doleful story and one that unfortunately travels well,” Rashmee Roshan Lall wrote on January 20 for The Arab Weekly.
“The presidential government system puts
an end to the use of executive authority by a collective body (parliament) and allows the exercise of executive power by a person who is elected directly by the people to serve for five consecutive years. In the new system, for five years, the president will directly or indirectly, determine and execute all public policies that are of concern to society, from security to foreign policy, education and health, and will follow their implementations,” Mehmed Zahid Sobaci, Nebi Mis and Ozer Koseoglu wrote in July in an article explaining the Turkish-type presidential system for pro-Erdogan think-tank SETA.