Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gambled that his Justice and Development Party (AKP) could not lose a second consecutive parliamentary election. He reasoned that the Turkish people prefer strong government and the stability that it promised in troubled times. He was right. AKP won a sweeping victory in the election on Sunday. The president, who is supposed to be above parties, will now use this win to press for the consolidation of power in his hands. There is a danger that such a move will instead deepen Turkey's divisions.
Five months ago, Turkish voters repudiated the AKP, which had been in power since 2002, by denying it a majority in parliamentary elections. The party won just 40 percent and lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in 13 years. After that vote, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu could not produce a coalition government that could win a majority. That impasse obliged the prime minister to ask the president to call a new election.
Erdogan obliged; many believe that the president wanted — and perhaps encouraged — Davutoglu to fail in those negotiations so that another ballot would be required. Those suspicions are borne from Erdogan's desire to rewrite Turkey's constitution to create a United States-style executive that would have considerably greater power and allow him to rule more efficiently. It was the prospect of such an outcome that prompted many Turks to turn to other parties in last summer's vote.