Professor Serpil Sancar from Ankara University focuses on the anti-democratic aspects of the electoral system and political parties rather than the outcome of Sunday's local elections.
"We should realize the ideological structure behind the logic of questioning elections as a response from people. The electorate is not monolithic. Electoral and political systems involve management strategies that shape people's choices. They don't directly represent what people think. There are masses, which are left out of political parties and lack any agency to express their views. They inevitably vote for a party. For example, many who voted for CHP don't agree with its policies or they would for another party if it existed. People express themselves but their demands are distortedly reflected at political parties."
According to Sancar, first and foremost this power mechanism must be scrutinized and it's the duty of those who wow for freedom and equality.
Her comments on the results of the elections are as follows:
Support for AKP declines: Since it came to power in 2002, the AKP preached for EU reforms, a civic constitution and democratization of the political structure. Those promises didn't realize; its only effort is on de-militarization of politics through the Ergenkon case. AKP promised different things to different segments of the society. Now, the support it gathered from those segments is retreating. AKP rose to power on political alliances, now those alliances are crackling.
CHP's rise defers new developments in left: There's a fundamental discussion on how to fill the political void on the leftist sphere. CHP never managed to succeed in this but neither refrained from this claim. Before the elections, there were expectations of CHP failing, giving way to efforts for new developments. But CHP –without altering its way of executing politics- gained votes with several popular candidates, campaigning and the regression of AKP. It created an image of success.
DTP and the Kurdish issue: None of the parties made a revelation regarding the Kurdish issue. Neither the DTP reformed itself to address whole of the society, nor other parties changed their attitudes on this subject.
DTP and women: One of the areas that the DTP improved is the representation of women. First time in turkey, they managed to get women mayors elected in small habitations. This experience is new and important. Other parties would be forced follow this path. All in all, this trend would disprove the image of the "eastern women".(TK/AGÜ)
