The false promise of Mideast elections
The coming presidential elections in Egypt, Syria and Turkey offer little hope for a regional trend toward stability and democracy.
Three presidential elections in the Middle East will shape regional politics for the foreseeable future. The shape of things to come, however, appears to be a continuation of the region’s undemocratic status quo, with little promise of a movement toward genuine democracy that so many hoped and clamored for during the heady days of the now almost-forgotten Arab Spring.
Egyptians go to the polls on May 26-27, to be followed shortly by Syria’s presidential elections on June 3. This will be followed by Turkey’s presidential elections on Aug. 10. Turkey’s elections — when Turks will for the first time elect their president, who was previously elected by parliament directly — will undoubtedly comply with Western democratic standards, unlike those in Egypt and Syria.
However, many in Turkey and the West fear it will produce a president accused of having the kind of autocratic tendencies that are not alien to the Middle East. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has still not openly declared his intention to run for the presidency, of course.
He repeated this during his party’s retreat in the Central Anatolian town of Afyon this week where, according to press reports, he told deputies from his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) that he still had not made up his mind whether to run or not.
