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The run-off ballot for both presidential elections will take place on May 28, if the results are confirmed by Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Commission.
The vote marks Erdogan’s toughest electoral challenge in his 20-year reign at the top of Turkish politics, effectively turning it into a referendum against the rule of a strong leader. The consequences can have far-reaching implications not only for the balance of power in the world, but also for national economies and political freedoms.
In the run-up to Election Day, opposition supporters said the Turkish president had used state resources to tip the election campaign in his favor, raising the minimum wage three times and hyping the announcement through state media, while Kilicdaloglu He accused the government of having to rely on speech. I tried to get his voice heard at the kitchen table through social media.
Addressing supporters from the balcony of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara early Monday morning, Erdogan said he believed he had won the election but was ready to accept a runoff vote.
“We certainly believe we will win the election on the first ballot,” he said.
Kirikdaroglu, 74, said his campaign would also try for a second round, but urged supporters to remain at polling stations until all votes had been counted. “Despite all the lies and attacks, President Erdogan failed to get the desired result,” he said. “You can’t win elections on a balcony.”
He also claimed the results of hundreds of ballot boxes in Ankara and Istanbul were being contested and accused AKP officials of trying to slow down the counting process. “There are ballot boxes that have been contested six times, eleven times,” he said.
But Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council chairman Ahmet Yener said in a brief statement late Sunday that this was not the case. Preliminary results of parliamentary elections, also held on Sunday, suggest the AKP-led coalition has secured a majority, which means that even if Kirikda Roglu takes over as president, his policies will remain in parliament. It means that it is difficult to pass.
Erdogan, 69, who first rose to national prominence as mayor of Istanbul, the country’s most populous city, is modern Turkey’s most successful politician. An extremely polarizing figure who has ruled for almost two decades, he consolidates power as president while accusing him of using repressive tactics against civil society and the media to dilute democracy. criticized by people. Supporters say he has modernized the country through a massive infrastructure project and brought Islam back into public life in Turkey.
A devastating earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people in southern Turkey in February cast a shadow over elections. Erdogan’s government has been accused of lax enforcement of building codes, delayed response to the disaster, and exacerbated the effects of the quake.
By contrast, Mr. Kilicdaroglu threw himself into a mediocre position during the campaign, tackling financial woes (President Erdogan’s unconventional economic policies contributed to soaring inflation) and promising to strengthen democratic norms.
Arab states normalize ties with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime after a civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians, most of them by terrorists, as the Ukrainian war enters its second year The election has the potential to reshape geopolitical alliances in an ever-changing world. his army.
Under President Erdoğan, NATO member Turkey has maintained a balanced relationship between the West and Russia, sometimes acting as a diplomatic broker in regards to the Black Sea Grain Agreement and freezing the Syrian line of conflict, and acting as a diplomatic broker for the United States and the European Union. strains the relationship with
On the final day of his election campaign, Erdogan accused the United States of trying to interfere in the election. He predicted that the ballot box “will give Biden the answer.”
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