Presidential and parliamentary elections began in Turkey on Sunday, following which the people of the country will have to decide on the possible extension of the powers of the current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who, if elected, will enter the third decade of his tenure in power.
The vote will determine not only who will lead Turkey, a NATO member country of 85 million people, but also matters of politics, economic policy and Ankara’s foreign policy.
According to opinion polls, Erdogan’s main rival, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who leads an alliance of six opposition parties, is well placed to win the little more than 50% of the popular vote needed for a candidate to win. emphatically wins. In the event that neither Erdogan nor Kılıçdaroglu crosses the 50% threshold, the second round of elections will take place on May 28.
Polling stations will close at 2:00 p.m. GMT. Turkish law prohibits the release of results before 9 p.m. By the end of Sunday, most likely, it will become clear whether we should expect a second round.
Erdogan says he respects democracy and denies accusations of establishing a dictatorship.
The elections come three months after earthquakes in southeastern Turkey killed more than 50,000 people. Many residents of disaster-hit provinces have expressed outrage at the government’s slow response, but there is little evidence the issue has seriously affected voter sentiment.
The parliamentary vote is a close race between the People’s Alliance, made up of Erdogan’s Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the nationalist MHP, and the Kılıçdaroğlu National Alliance, made up of six opposition parties, including its secular Republican People’s Party (CHP), founded by Turkish founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
The vote is being monitored by a mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which will make an opening statement on Monday on its findings.
Erdogan enjoys loyalty among the country’s religious residents, who once felt disenfranchised in secular Turkey. The current president has successfully survived the 2016 coup attempt and numerous corruption scandals.
However, if the Turks really decide to send Erdogan to rest, it will happen largely because the current president has made miscalculations in the economy: the standard of living is falling, the pound has collapsed and the inflation rate in October 2022 exceeded 85%.
Kılıçdaroğlu promises that if he wins, he will return to a more difficult economic path. He also wants to return Turkey to a parliamentary system of government, changing the result of a 2017 referendum that saw Erdogan strengthen the executive branch of government. He also promises to restore the independence of the judiciary, which critics say Erdogan is using to stifle dissent.
Erdogan has taken most national institutions under tight control and pushed aside liberals and his critics. Human rights organization Human Rights Watch, in its 2022 World Report, said the Erdogan government had set Turkey’s human rights record back decades.
Kurdish voters, who represent 15 to 20% of the electorate, can play a decisive role in the vote. The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) is not part of the opposition alliance, but Kurds are among the most active opponents of Erdogan, who has led crackdowns on party members in recent years . The National Alliance, according to experts, is unlikely to win the majority of seats in parliament on its own.
The HDP supported Kılıçdaroğlu’s candidacy for the presidential elections. The interests of the Kurds in the legislative elections are expressed by the small Green Left Party. The HDP is unable to participate in the elections due to a lawsuit filed by the country’s attorney general over the party’s ties to Kurdish activists. The HDP leadership denies these allegations.
Read the Ukraine War News Latest Today on The Eastern Herald.
