Turks yesterday voted in dual parliamentary and presidential polls seen as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s toughest election test, with the opposition revitalized and his popularity at risk from growing economic troubles.
Erdogan has overseen historic change in Turkey since his Muslim-rooted ruling Justice and Development Party first came to power in 2002 after decades of secular domination.
However, critics have accused the strongman, 64, of trampling on civil liberties and displaying autocratic behavior.
Photo: AFP
More than 56 million eligible voters for the first time cast ballots simultaneously in the parliamentary and presidential elections, with Erdogan looking for a first round knockout and a legislative majority for his party.
However, both these goals were in doubt in the face of an energetic campaign by his rival from the secular main opposition Republican People’s Party, Muharrem Ince, who has mobilized hundreds of thousands in mega rallies, and a strong opposition alliance in the legislative polls.
“I hope for the best for our nation,” Ince said as he cast his ballot in his native port city of Yalova south of Istanbul, vowing to spend the night at the headquarters of the Supreme Electoral Council in Ankara to ensure a fair count.
Erdogan remained the favorite to hold on to the presidency — even if he needs a second round on July 8 — but the outcome was likely to be much tighter than he expected when calling the snap polls one-and-a-half years ahead of schedule.
The opposition’s performance is all the more troubling for the authorities given how the campaign has been slanted in favor of Erdogan, who has dominated media airtime, analysts have said.
“Even if the odds are on the incumbent’s side, the race is likely to be far tighter than many expected,” said Ilke Toygur, analyst at the Elcano Royal Institute and adjunct professor at University Carlos III in Madrid.
“Ince’s wit, audacity, ability to poke holes through Erdogan’s narrative and connect with Turks beyond the traditional base of his secularist CHP has flustered Erdogan and his team,” Verisk Maplecroft Middle East and North Africa director Anthony Skinner said.
The stakes in the election were particularly high as the new Turkish president would be the first to enjoy enhanced powers under a new constitution agreed in an April last year referendum strongly backed by Erdogan.
He has for the past two years ruled under a state of emergency imposed in the wake of a failed coup in 2016, with tens of thousands arrested in an unprecedented crackdown that cranked up tensions with the West.
Erdogan, whose mastery of political rhetoric is acknowledged even by critics, has won a dozen elections, but is now fighting against the backdrop of increasing economic woes.
Inflation has zoomed well into double digits — with popular concern over sharp rises in staples such as potatoes and onions — while the Turkish lira has lost about 25 percent of its value against the US dollar this year.
“At each election, I come with hope. But this year I have a lot more faith, but we’ll see,” voter Hulya Ozdemiral said as she cast her ballot in Istanbul.
The votes of Turkey’s Kurdish minority were especially crucial in the parliamentary poll.
If the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) wins seats by polling over the 10 percent minimum threshold, the AKP would struggle to keep its overall majority.
However, in a situation labeled as blatant unfairness by activists, the HDP’s presidential candidate, Selahattin Demirtas, has campaigned from a prison cell after his November 2016 arrest on charges of links to outlawed Kurdish militants.
After casting his ballot in his jail in the northwestern city of Edirne, Demirtas wrote on Twitter: “I wish that everyone uses their vote for the sake of the future and democracy of the country.”
The opposition has also decried heavy bias in favor of Erdogan by state media, with news channel TRT Haber not showing a single second of Ince’s giant final Istanbul rally.
Tens of thousands of Turks have responded to calls from the opposition to monitor the polls for a clean election and a delegation of observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe was also in place.
Polls were to close at 6pm and initial results were expected early this morning.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
RSS