17 votes

Re-run of Istanbul election set for June 23

4 comments

  1. [4]
    unknown user
    Link
    Backstory: Many major provinces of Turkey passed to the opposing CHP in the last elections, on March 31st. Istanbul, the major province by far, was among those; but the victory of Ekrem Imamoglu...

    Backstory: Many major provinces of Turkey passed to the opposing CHP in the last elections, on March 31st. Istanbul, the major province by far, was among those; but the victory of Ekrem Imamoglu with a small margin was contested by the AKP. It was obvious that the appeal had no real basis, but the YSK, the legal body that oversees and has absolute power over elections, whose members changed during the rule of AKP, decided to annul the elections, after a month and 6 days.

    Now we're going to vote again on the 23rd of June. There aren't any annulments in other big provinces that the CHP gained, like Ankara, Adana, Mersin, etc.

    9 votes
    1. [2]
      The_Fad
      Link Parent
      So this is a politicking power grab, then?

      So this is a politicking power grab, then?

      1 vote
      1. unknown user
        Link Parent
        Yeah, they want to steer it back to themselves because they are so deep in corruption in the city. Istanbul is to Turkey like London is to the UK: basically, there is nothing else in the country...

        Yeah, they want to steer it back to themselves because they are so deep in corruption in the city. Istanbul is to Turkey like London is to the UK: basically, there is nothing else in the country that is interesting economically, and these folks were milking the city like never before. They don't want to let go because their shit will get exposed and they'll lose a great amount of money.

        People think of AKP as islamists or fascists. But this is basically a kleptocracy, and they'll go anywhere as long as they can keep the money flowing. I like this video by CGP Grey really interesting, tells you the reason why they can't just let go of the quest for more and more money. Everybody needs to feed their soldiers, and it is a fractal of corruption.

        I don't think they'll succeed, tho. But they'll get to have their hands on the municipality for a month and a half, where they'll maybe try to clean up their shit. I'm sure Imamoglu will win with a bigger margin this time round, the votes coming from the many frustrated and embarrassed AKP voters. There are also rumours of an opposition movement within the party, so things will change in Turkey in the coming years, it seems. Let's hope for the better.

        10 votes