Turkey's religious conservatives are rejoicing over the March 30 local election win for the ruling Justice and Development Party. For the country as a whole, there's little to celebrate. As Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made clear in his victory speech, retribution against his enemies and a polarizing presidential election campaign will follow. Erdogan managed to boost his party's share of the popular vote to 46 percent from 39 percent, despite last year's massive Gezi Park anti-government protests in Istanbul, serial foreign policy failures, a slowing economy, and a slew of corruption allegations. The election was anything but flawless: Power blackouts interrupted the counting of votes, most of the traditional news media proved pliant, and the government blocked Twitter and YouTube. None of that will stop Erdogan from claiming a popular mandate and pressing on with increasingly authoritarian policies.
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