Editor's note.

• Author: Kucukcan, Talip

Fair and transparent elections provide an opportunity for citizens to continue or discontinue with the incumbent administrations and political parties. Elections are also moments for the renewal of confidence or expressing popular discontent with the ruling political authority. In modern democracies, it is only through elections and political participation that governments change and political transition takes place. Therefore, established democracies and countries, which aspire for democratic representation, invest in elections and political participation as the main sources of legitimacy. It is on the basis of such legitimacy that political parties and governments can effectively function in modern nation-states. It is primarily for this reason that whenever there is discontent and search for alternative political representation, elections provide the opposition groups and parties with the opportunity to challenge the ruling political parties and governments.

Since elections are considered to be the only legitimate way and method of changing governments, a lot is expected from electoral procedures and election results. This has been acutely reflected in several countries where political transition has been a painful and complicated process. Yet, election results do not always deliver what is expected, as far as democratic politics is concerned. Iraq, Egypt, and Ukraine illustrate how elections do not necessarily bring about further democratization or stability. Against this background, elections can result in the reaffirmation of confidence and re-approval of current administrations. The elections of March 30th in Turkey, though they were for local government and municipal elections, resulted in reaffirming significant support for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which has emerged as the dominant political party in consecutive elections since coming to power in 2002.

The elections of March 30th took place amid controversies and accusations surrounding the AK Party politics and its leadership. The Gezi Park protests that started in Taksim in Istanbul over an urban planning project in May/June of 2013 spread across the country and created a wide public debate on political discourse and practice. The participants of the Gezi protests accused the AK Party government of becoming authoritarian. Immediately, the opposition parties capitalized on the grievances of the demonstrators to advance their own political agendas. In...