Zero hour in Turkey with 64 million citizens going to the polls today, Sunday, May 14, for the election of the 13th president of the country, as well as the parliamentary representation, in a electoral process which is characterized as particularly critical and has attracted the interest of the whole world.
THE Recep Tayyip Erdogan is more under threat than ever, with the latest polls showing his arch-rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu ahead with between 46% and 50%.
Already 1.5 million voters have voted abroad and the votes have arrived in Ankara to be counted today at 17:00 after the polls close. The Electoral Commission of Turkey has stated that announcements regarding the results will be broadcast tomorrow between 18:00 and 21:00. It is the first time in the last 20 years that there is uncertainty and difficulty in predicting, even if things will go to a second round.
Erdogan’s AKP has as its main ally the nationalist MIR. On the other side, the CHP and five other parties form an alliance that is also expected to be supported by the pro-Kurdish HDP.
On Kilintsaroglou’s side are two potential vice-presidents, the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, and the mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavas, from the far-right nationalist Devlet Bakhceli’s party. Among the parties that support Kilicdaroglu is the president of the far-right Good Party, Meral Aksener.
Both the official opposition and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan state and believe that they can exceed 50% in the first round and thus win the presidency without the need for a second round.
The outgoing president concluded his election campaign with a prayer at Hagia Sophia, which he has converted into a mosque since 2020. “The whole West had gone mad! But I did!”he boasted, referring to the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque.
His speech contained threats against his opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Erdogan, who has been in power since 2003 and won elections in 2002, 2007, 2011 and 2018, promised to respect the results of the presidential and parliamentary elections.calling the question on the subject “absolute stupidity”.
THE Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who will be in Ankara today, completed his campaign yesterday with a symbolic visit to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey. “Are you ready for democracy in this country? To bring peace back to the country. I am. I promise you,” said Kemal Kilicdaroglu during his last major rally.
A big thorn for the AKP is the Turkish economy, 36 million citizens are in debt to the banks with the economic recession evident. Around 6 million young people will vote for the first time and their choices today will have a lot to say with analysts estimating that the AKP no longer has the appeal it once had among younger generations. Everything will be counted and we say this as ensuring the transparency, credibility and validity of the electoral process is a source of concern for the European Union as Turkey has experienced coups, vote recounts, contested election results and allegations of violence and fraud.
Source: News Beast
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