RantCrush Top 5: April 17, 2017

Yesterday, a referendum took place in Turkey to decide whether to grant even more power to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and abolish the role of the prime minister–Erdogan has obviously been pushing for Turkish citizens to vote in his favor. A state-run news outlet reported early that 51 percent of the votes supported the measure. Yesterday, the president reportedly called his allies to congratulate them on the victory and talked to the press about the “historic decision.” But the results are not fully confirmed and the main opposition party, CHP, is claiming that there was widespread voter fraud and has demanded a recount. Another party, HDP, agreed and said it would appeal the results. And this morning, international monitors said the election didn’t uphold the standards for an international, democratic referendum.

“Fraud in Turkey’s referendum means renewed violence is on its way” https://t.co/j3mZJ5QgPu by @mrubin1971 pic.twitter.com/21rbMlu4jL

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 17, 2017

Despite widespread doubt about how the referendum was carried out, many European nations have said they will acknowledge the result that Erdogan won. This means Turkey will move even further under Erdogan’s thumb. Considering his previous not-so-Democratic actions, including jailing journalists and moves to imprison people from opposition parties, this doesn’t seem like good news.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.