How Erdogan became the master of ‘election optimisation’

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CHRONIC. The Turkish president owes his re-election to an infallible recipe combining clientelist mores with an exacerbated nationalist ideology.

By Christian Makarian

VSthose who are familiar with tax optimization practices will understand how the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, managed to win his re-election. Just as one can apparently respect the form of the laws in order to circumvent their effects better, it is possible to obtain from the ballot box a result acquired in advance if one knows how to go about it without too many scruples. The main lesson of the presidential election of May 28, 2023 obviously lies in Erdogan’s ability to institute real “electoral optimization” in Turkey, i.e. a catalog of practices that constantly border on illegality – without entering into it. -foot – and who shamelessly violate decency. According to an almost infallible method, the knitting between patronage mores and a national ideology…