South Asia Center Nonresident Fellow Barbara Slavin writes for Voice of America on the outcome of the Turkish election, and its reduction of President Erdogan’s executive authority:
His name was not on the ballot. But Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Turkey were all about President Recep Tayib Erdogan and the results revealed growing disenchantment with his authoritarian, divisive rule.
Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its majority in parliament and with it, Erdogan’s bid to revise the constitution to formally endow the presidency with Putinesque powers. With only 41 percent of the seats, the AKP lacks the strength to push through such changes and will now have to form a coalition government or seek new elections.