Turkey's leap toward authoritarianism

Should President Recep Tayyip Erdogan be re-elected, he will serve until 2023, whereby he will have governed Turkey for 20 of the 100 years since the modern Turkish state was founded. Whether he is re-elected or not, however, Erdogan has already radically changed Turkey and the country's future depends on these elections.

Turbulence in the Turkish economy because of the markets' distrust in Erdogan's fiscal management gave rise to speculation in the past couple of weeks that Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) may lose the elections. Turkish public opinion polls are not always reliable, though, so the most likely outcome remains a victory for the incumbent, either with an absolute majority tomorrow or in the second round against the runner-up, who will have the support of the majority of tomorrow's candidates. Whether the AKP will be able to form a government...