According to the Turkiye Election Commission on the 15th, based on a counting rate of 97%, President Erdogan obtained 49.4%, ahead of the single candidate of the six opposition parties, Kultz Darouglu, with 44.9%, by 4.5 percentage points. In third place is Sinan Oan, leader of the Victory Party (5.3%), which is expected to exert considerable influence in the final vote.
President Erdogan assured the supporters who gathered in Ankara, the administrative capital, that day, “If my country wants a second vote, I will welcome it.” Right before the election, he made various populist pledges after some opinion polls showed him to lag behind the representative of Kultzdaroulu. The CEO of Cults Daroulu also responded, saying, “We will definitely win in the finals.”
In the general election held at the same time on the same day, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is expected to win 36.3 percent of the passport coalition and win more than half of the 600 seats, or more than 269 seats. The main opposition Republican People’s Party won 24.3 percent.
After failing to produce a majority vote in the first round of the presidential election, Turkiye is expected to fall into considerable chaos until the 28th, when the final vote is held. Analysts say that the fall in the value of the lira on the 15th to the two-month low of 19.7 lira per US dollar is also related to this.
President Erdogan served as prime minister for a third term from 2003 to 2014, during the cabinet system. He ran for the presidential election in 2014, immediately after his resignation as prime minister, and was elected, and in 2017 passed the constitutional amendment bill for the five-year term president Zero to take power again. If he wins the final vote on the 28th, he can stay in power until 2028. Under the current constitution, if he wins an early presidential election during this period, he can remain in power until 2033. Currently, he is 69 years old, and he can hold power for 30 years until he is 79 years old.
The ‘Kingmaker’ of the final vote is expected to be the representative of the Victory Party. With his far-right nationalist tendencies, he is advocating a more stern Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Western line than President Erdogan. For now, analysts say that he is highly likely to vote for President Erdogan.
As if conscious of this, Kultzdaroulu, the representative of a single candidate from the six opposition parties, said on the 15th, “The Election Commission and the Justice and Development Party interfered with the counting of more than 1,000 ballot boxes. I will not just watch,” he said, expressing strong dissatisfaction. Some even raise the possibility of objection if he loses in the final vote.
This election was held in the midst of a major earthquake that hit the entire country at the beginning of this year, chronic economic difficulties, and fiercer confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties than ever before. The whole world is also closely watching the Turkish presidential election. The Economist, a British weekly magazine, analyzed, “If a peaceful replacement of President Erdogan is possible in an era where ‘strong man’ rule has emerged from Hungary to India, it will have considerable significance for democracy around the world.”
Cairo =
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.