According to CNN, “With 97.95% of votes counted, state-run Anadolu news agency reported Erdogan had 49.34% of votes, compared to 44.99% for his main opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu – meaning neither could claim an outright win. The third candidate, Sinan Ogan, received 5.28% of votes, according to Anadolu, raising the possibility he could be a kingmaker in a runoff. He tweeted that a second vote is ‘quite possible,’ and that ‘Turkish nationalists and Ataturkists are in a key position for this election.’” So, now Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu go to a runoff election in two weeks, and Erdogan will win handily because that 5% Ogan won represents a far-right party — further to the right than Erdogan. Once again, autocracy will triumph while cloaked in the charade of democracy. Of course, this was utterly predictable and further demonstrates what many and I have been screaming about endlessly: Democracy is dying worldwide. To be clear, Turkey lost its democracy years ago, but these “elections” evince that Turks love autocracy. After all, it is a Muslim-majority country, and we all know Islam is anathema to liberal democratic governance. And it should go without saying, people heading to the ballot box to “elect” a dictator is not democracy. It is merely a dictatorship dressed up as a democracy. Erdogan could just as easily declare elections are no longer needed as he appoints himself leader for life, and citizens would just as effortlessly shrug their shoulds and allow it to happen.
One can only imagine what this enduring lifetime rule of Erdogan will do to NATO as he keeps cozying up to Putin and continues to block the accession of Sweden to NATO. How many times must I say it? We are in a new historical era — the Age of Autocracy whereby dictatorships are more popular than liberal democracies because people deep down love to be ruled, for democracy is hard. Thinking is hard. Participating in government to ensure freedoms are preserved is hard. Fighting to keep a democracy requires effort, which is hard. Oh, well. Welcome to stupid humanity! Get ready, f***tards! You’ve been warned.