Turkish Presidential Campaigns & American Elections

All this week I wanted to encourage people to visit Turkey which began with my post for a great video in five languages, but I guess between the Turkish presidential election controversy and the Istanbul Worker's Day riot, I am compelled to stick with another hotly debated issue.

The presidential elections in Turkey heated up over the nomination of Foreign Minister Gul to run for president which met with the heart of controversy and led to the largest mass demonstration in Turkish history. 700,000 was the count for attendance.

Now PM Erdogan has said he will propose a change to the constitution to let the Turkish voters decide who should be president. Not only that but they have already lowered the age to 25 for MPs!

Right now, since FM Gul's nomination met with such disdain and less than a 2/3 vote, they believe general elections will be held possibly as early as June 24 instead of October. Campaigning, though, cannot begin in earnest for any elected positions until the date is decided. Why? Politicians are given a specific period of time, less than one month, to go on the campaign trail.

In France, recent elections were held in April with final elections this month, and nominees only campaign a few weeks before elections.

In America, however, January 2007 began the race for the November 2008 presidential elections to get voters and fundraisers upwards of $100 million just to spend on their campaigns.

Is THIS not a crime against humanity in some manner? Is this what democracy supports? I beg to differ!

How can countries hold elections only after a few weeks of campaigning when in America it's ongoing for almost two years? I believe it shameful for a country's politicians to be filling a seat in Congress, say, and be on the campaign trail at the same time. It is a complete rip-off of taxpayers' money.

Other countries' practices are quite adequate without the waste of money, time and incredible headbanging extending for up to two years. It seems well-proven that any country can elect their officials quite easily by allowing only 30 days or less for their campaigns, all the while accomplishing what they need to convince the voters of their worth.

What do they know that America does not? They know that what needs to be said can all be said in 30 days, and after that it's just more rhetoric. But even better, I find a Turkish word describes this attitude of campaigning for years instead of days perfectly—Sacma—NONSENSE.

Comments

[Bea]

Check out Haluk's timely commentary on the elections at Click Here

[Haluk Direskeneli]

Extraordinary article. Congratulations
Thank you & best regards

[Bea]

BTW, FM Gul has now withdrawn his candidacy for presidential elections.