Elections in Southern Europe – Still Democratic? Turkey in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

In the post-crisis period, we can observe a process called democracy decline, democratic backsliding or de-democratization in many countries, including South European states. It generally means the problems with keeping the principles of the liberal model of democracy. The aim of the panel is to focus on one of the most important democratic institutions, i.e. elections (national - parliamentary and presidential as well as local) and investigate if they are currently also part of the aforementioned phenomenon, in other words – if there can be some doubt about the democratic characteristics of elections nowadays. The key questions to be posed are as follows: Can we call the current elections fair and competitive? Do all participants have an equal chance to compete in elections? How common are the electoral malpractices at different stages of the electoral process? How diverse are these practices? What is the impact of the electoral malpractices on the political regime? The main case will be Turkey as it is one of the “hardest” cases to indicate the democratic deficits of elections – with a particular focus on the last elections (presidential and parliamentary in June 2018 as well as local – in March 2019). However, the panel is also aimed at finding out if we can find similar cases in the states of Southern Europe, holding elections in recent years.