2023-05-12 23:00:08
The Turkish president has ruled for 20 years. This Sunday he is going for a new term. But the polls give him a loser.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is one of the rulers who has led his country the longest in the world. Twenty years. And this Sunday he aspires to a new mandate of another five years. Although everything could change a context of high inflation.
The Turkish opposition attends these elections closer than ever.
Most of the parties opposed to the Erdogan’s growing authoritarianismfrom the Turkish nationalist right to the pro-Kurdish left support the center-leftist Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, who starts as the favorite in the polls, although with a margin of just two or three points.
Erdogan is nervous. Two days before the elections, he compared these elections to the 2016 coup. And the opposition had to come out and ask for calm.
“If necessary, just like on the night of July 15 (2016, the date of the coup), we will defend our independence and our future, even with our lives,” Erdogan said on Twitter.
Erdogan, for whom the polls predict an electoral defeat, He assured that “he will not give up serving his country.”
The opposition calls for calm
Kiliçdaroglu asked his supporters to go vote without worrying and assured that measures have been taken to defend the cleanliness of the elections.
The opposition candidate, who he is convinced of his victory already in the first lap of the presidential elections this Sunday, he has insisted to his followers that they be restrained in celebrating the victory in the streets, given the risk that violent groups in favor of Erdogan cause riots.
Beyond an eventual violent response, different analysts do believe that if he loses by a narrow margin, Erdogan could contest the elections.
Inflation
One of the main reasons for Erdogan’s loss of popularity is the difficult economic situation through which the population passes, say Semrah, Sengül and Nazli, three housewives
“We cannot cook, we cannot fill the pot, there is no help for the children to study,” says one of them. “It doesn’t matter which party it is, the important thing is that there is a change. Enough of those who have been slouching in their posts for so long,” adds the other. “Let others come and go,” one of them interjects.
Due to the controversial economic policies of the Government, inflation has skyrocketed: Prices have increased by 40% compared to last year according to official figuresmore than 100% according to independent calculations.
Erdogan has tried to galvanize his support by accusing the opposition of siding with terrorists, foreign powers and fueling nationalist sentiment.
During the electoral campaign he has presented discoveries of deposits of gas, oil and gold that will make the country more self-sufficient, and the new models of tanks, fighters, helicopters and aircraft carriers for the Armed Forces.
Yasar Karakas, a municipal employee and voter for the president argues and defends his vote.
“If instead of two onions, you eat one onion, you can eat the same. Or instead of four potatoes, you can have one or two. But if you don’t have an aircraft carrier like this, your country can’t defend itself, ”she reasons.
There is no doubt that, at almost 70 years old, Erdogan continues to elicit both support and rejection among the Turks themselves. On Sunday, a narrow margin of votes could decide whether it’s time for him to retire or he continues to lead the country.
Editorial Clarín with information from EFE and Andrés Mourenza from RFI, from Turkey
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