OSCE observers urge Turkey to expand freedom

Turkey's weekend elections were well-managed but the country needs to expand freedoms to strengthen its democracy, said Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) election observers yesterday. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan won a third term in the elections as he seeks to overhaul Turkey's military-era constitution. The OSCE monitors said that the election demonstrated pluralism, but also urged Turkey to bolster freedom of expression and create a media environment free from political pressure. The OSCE delegation also criticized Turkey's 10 percent electoral threshold, which keeps smaller parties out of Parliament.