While President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pursues a fear-based strategy of polarization, Turkey’s opposition parties are maintaining a strong alliance and a positive message. If they win next year’s national elections, democratic forces seeking to unseat populist autocrats elsewhere will certainly register how they did it.
ISTANBUL – As Turkey prepares for national elections in 2023, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is losing ground because of the unfolding economic crisis and opposition parties’ effective strategies. Under Erdoğan, Turkey has become a model of populist authoritarianism in the past decade. But six opposition parties recently forged an opposition alliance bound together by a shared democratization agenda. Their efforts deserve to be added to a growing playbook of tactics for competing against autocratic populists.
ISTANBUL – As Turkey prepares for national elections in 2023, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is losing ground because of the unfolding economic crisis and opposition parties’ effective strategies. Under Erdoğan, Turkey has become a model of populist authoritarianism in the past decade. But six opposition parties recently forged an opposition alliance bound together by a shared democratization agenda. Their efforts deserve to be added to a growing playbook of tactics for competing against autocratic populists.