After two decades of violence and repression under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP, Turkey prepares for its next general election on 14 May.

But the integrity of the electoral process has been put into question long before election day.

Over the course of the past two years, Erdoğan's government has aggressively pushed to imprison the leaders of progressive, pro-Kurdish forces, and has been successful in imposing a de facto ban on their party, the HDP.

But Turkey's progressive forces aren't defenceless. They have reorganised in a new party, the Green Left Party (YSP), to contest the 14 May elections.

Yet they still face major challenges, as the government is escalating its crackdown just a few days before the election.

In the last two weeks alone, 150 lawyers, journalists, party officials and candidates have been arbitrarily detained. The government is clearly intent on muting all those who could play a role in monitoring on election day.

And there's another major concern. Like Trump and Bolsonaro before him, Erdoğan has repeatedly hinted at not accepting the result of the elections, linking his main presidential challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to the PKK: “My nation will not hand power to someone elected president with help from the PKK.”

A massive international mobilisation will therefore be critical to defend democracy in Turkey.