AFAQ NEWS – Some of Europe’s leaders have been accused of taking advantage of a public health crisis to clamp down on dissent and bolster their power.
As Turkey arrests hundreds for social media posts and Russians are threatened with jail for anything considered fake news, there are fears that democracy is being jeopardised in Poland and that it has been swept away in Hungary.
BBC correspondents assess whether coronavirus is being used as cover for a power grab.
Hungary’s powerful Prime Minister Viktor Orban stands accused at home and abroad of using the coronavirus crisis to grab even more power, instead of uniting the country.
First his Fidesz government declared a state of danger on 11 March, winning valuable time to prepare for the pandemic. But it then used its majority in parliament to extend that indefinitely, so the government now has the power to rule by decree for as long as necessary and can decide itself when the danger is over.
Critics speak of an end to Hungary’s democracy, but the justice minister insists the “Authorisation Act” will expire at the end of the emergency and it was both necessary and proportionate.
Is it the end of democracy? Constitutional law expert Prof Zoltan Szente warns the pandemic could easily be used to maintain the government’s extraordinary powers.
As it is the exclusive power of the government to decide when to end the state of danger, he says parliament has actually “committed suicide” by waiving its right of control over the government.
In theory there are still three checks on Viktor Orban’s power:
- Parliament remains in session unless the pandemic stops it
- The Constitutional Court still functions
- A general election takes place in 2022
But Mr Orban’s Fidesz party has a decisive majority in parliament and all by-elections and referendums are postponed until the end of the emergency.
The Constitutional Court is already packed with Orban favourites but the one remaining thorn in the prime minister’s side is the largely independent judiciary.
The ruling party needs to maintain its two-thirds majority in parliament to appoint a new Supreme Court president at the end of 2020. Then Mr Orban’s power would be almost unassailable.
Turkey’s combative leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, does not need to use the coronavirus outbreak to usurp power because he has so much already. That is the view of human rights campaigners here.
“There is such a centralised system there’s no need to have a further power grab,” says Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey Director for Human Rights Watch.
However, she says there was an opportunistic attempt to “test the water” with proposals to increase control on social media companies. They were “buried deep” in a bill dealing mainly with economic measures to cushion the impact of the virus.
The aim, she says, was “to strong-arm social media platforms to submit to government control and censorship”. The draft amendments were suddenly dropped but Ms Sinclair-Webb expects them to make a comeback in the future.
Turkey’s government is determined to control the narrative during the crisis. Hundreds have been arrested for “provocative posts” about Covid-19 on social media.
Few doctors have dared to speak out. “Hiding the facts and creating a monopoly of information unfortunately became the way this country is being ruled,” says Ali Cerkezoglu of the Turkish Medical Association. “Doctors, nurses and health workers have got used to it in the past 20 years.”
Lawyer Hurrem Sonmez worries the outbreak is a moment of opportunity for President Erdogan. “Society, and the opposition, are weaker because of the pandemic,” says Ms Sonmez, who has represented defendants in free speech cases.
“Everyone has the same agenda – the virus. The priority is to survive. There is a serious concern that the situation can be misused by this government.”
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