In 2022, the AKP and its parliamentary coalition partner, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), passed changes to Turkey’s electoral law. In doing so, they wanted to stifle the resistance of the opposition. The most important reforms concern the selection of the judges in the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) who decide on electoral disputes. According to the new measures, the judges of the YSK are no longer selected according to seniority, but by drawing lots. Erdoğan purged the judiciary after the 2016 coup attempt, and according to Reuters 45 percent of Turkey’s 21,000 judges in 2020 had three or fewer years of experience. A lottery increases the likelihood that judges appointed by the AKP will be given election cases. In addition, in January, the YSK appointed a new leader who has family ties to an Erdoğan ally.
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The electoral council has so far multiple judgments issued in favor of the AKP. In one case, the YSK allowed 15 government ministers running as AKP candidates for parliament to continue their duties as ministers during the election campaign. In this way, they continued to have access to the Ministry’s resources.