Abstract
“Democracy in Crisis,” the title of the 2018 Freedom house data warns against the declining political rights and civil liberties in the world politics. Following the global pattern the countries of the East Mediterranean region has the average score of 41.5 out of 100 (see the Fig. 1 below for regional and country specific scores). What distinguishes the region from others, however, is the incredibly uneven scores and the concerning decline. On the one hand, the current situation in Syria introduced a rare rating of negative one, on the other hand the relatively high scores of Israel and Greece and designation as “free,” do not eliminate the concerns regarding declining some liberties and freedom. For instance, Israel’s civil liberties score declined because of new legislation aimed at tightening restrictions on critical nongovernmental organizations and denying them access to international support.
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Notes
- 1.
Dahl’s terms “effective participation,” “voting equality,” and “justice” are used in this analysis to draw attention to de jure disenfranchisement of many groups.
- 2.
Ibid.
- 3.
The Turkish High Election Board, which is the highest electoral authority in Turkey, consists of seven permanent and four alternate members for 6-year terms elected by the Supreme Court of Appeals and the Council of State. The 2010 constitutional amendments allowed the president to appoint one-fourth of the Council of State and the Supreme Court of Appeals prosecutor thereby raising concerns about the neutrality of the THEB. The THEB’s decision to accept unstamped ballots during 2017 referendum sparked criticism of the opposition parties. Regardless, the THEB has ultimate authority regarding the conduct of elections in Turkey, and it is not possible to appeal its rulings. The most recent legal changes that were put into place in December 2017 stipulated that all ballot box committee (BBC) chairpersons will be appointed by the state, thereby taking political parties’ initiatives in determining the ballot box committee out of their hands.
- 4.
- 5.
Interview with a Turkish High Election Board representative, April 2, 2016.
- 6.
PKK refers to the Kurdish abbreviation for the Kurdish Workers Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê). PKK was formed in the late 1970s and launched an armed struggle against the Turkish government in 1984. Its peace negotiations with the JDP ended abruptly after the June 2015 elections.
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The author acknowledges Michael Dirksen and Mine Tafolar’s significant contributions to the analysis.
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Tepe, S. (2019). Between Authoritarianism and Liberalism: The Potential and Limits of Elections. In: Litsas, S.N., Tziampiris, A. (eds) The New Eastern Mediterranean. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90758-1_5
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