Political systems

The Parliament has restored the previous barrier in preferential voting, Focus News Agency reports. The threshold in preferential voting in local and general elections will be 7%, and that in European elections - 5%. Thus, the MPs revoked the higher thresholds adopted through amendments to the Electoral Code on February 14, 2019 that caused public discontent.

In China 30 years ago an audacious public protest in the capital's central square pushed the country's autocrats to the brink, and when the Soviet Union imploded, the ruling party's most relentless critic became Russia's president and dominant political figure. Ascendant America had no serious rival. In Europe, West welcomed East.

Macron is accused of being "co-responsible for the irresponsible course of the centralist EU."

 France, Germany and 20 other EU governments are set to sign a defense pact on Monday they hope marks a new era of European military integration to cement unity after Britain's decision to quit the bloc.

It is not just we Greeks who are obsessed with the legacy of totalitarianism. As the European Union commemorated the day of remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes on Wednesday, the German magazine Stern presented Donald Trump, draped in the American flag, giving the Nazi salute.

Renovations have started at Turkey's parliament in Ankara in order to outfit the legislature for the presidential system after the "yes" campaign won a disputed referendum on April 16 to impose an executive presidential system on the country.

Most Balkan countries experienced setbacks in their progress to democracy last year amid the re-emergence of populist authoritarianism in the region, according to Freedom House's 2017 Nations in Transit report, which was published on Tuesday.

Since my late 20s I have defined myself, politically speaking, as a classical liberal. This meant that I believe in human rights and freedoms as the cornerstone of human society and any legitimate political authority. I also believed that this liberal vision, if explained well, would appeal to most people unless they are wild-eyed fanatics or ruthless autocrats.

I will begin this piece with an honest confession: As a Turkey observer, I failed in the first decade of this century to foresee the second decade. By the year 2010, I was very optimistic about "New Turkey," believing it was on the road to becoming a liberal democracy. By 2016, however, we are, at best, a very illiberal democracy.

Facing strong resistance to a presidential system change, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has begun reconsidering the idea of a semi-presidential system similar to the one in France, with a senior executive of the party arguing that Turkey's existing parliamentarian system and France's semi-presidential system differ very little.