Organizing transnational party resistance: a contribution to analysis of electoral manipulation and counter-mobilization in Turkey’s diaspora elections

Since the introduction of out-of-country voting in 2014, often portrayed as a mechanism of democratic inclusion, the number of Turkish citizens abroad has acquired new political significance, leading parties to invest more actively in the diasporic political field. By analyzing the opposition party repertoires, this article demonstrates how, by contrast to its democratic promise, diaspora voting has become a contested transnational political arena. The analysis reveals that Turkey’s case illustrates a broader paradox of out-of-country voting dynamics: while bureaucratic control and electoral manipulation serve to reinforce autocratic governance, it also opens transnational arenas in which opposition actors enact everyday forms of democratic resilience and counter-mobilization.