2023-05-29 02:05:00
Istanbul, Türkiye | The outgoing president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, won this Sunday in the second round of the presidential elections, a result that confirms his stay in power until 2028, after two decades in command of the country.
“Our nation has entrusted us with the responsibility of running the country for the next five years,” Erdogan, 69, told supporters from atop a bus in his home district of Istanbul.
The head of the Turkish electoral commission declared him the winner of the elections, although the final results will not be announced until the beginning of the week.
After counting 99.7% of the votes, according to the official Anadolu agency, Erdogan, at the head of the Justice and Development Party (AKP, Islamoconservative), reaches 52.1% of the votes, compared to 47, 9% for his rival, the Social Democrat Kemal Kiliçdaroglu.
The results confirm the forecasts for this second round, in which the outgoing president arrived as the favourite, despite the desire for change on the part of the electorate, the galloping inflation and the denunciations of the restrictions of freedoms in a country where there are dozens of thousands of imprisoned or exiled opponents.
In the first round held on May 14, Erdogan had already come out on top with 49.5% of the vote compared to 45% for his rival.
For the first time in Turkish history, a second round was held.
“The time has come to put aside the disputes of the electoral campaign and to achieve unity and solidarity around our dreams as a nation,” the president told his supporters gathered in front of the presidential palace in Ankara, after confirming his victory.
Erdogan’s supporters projected two giant images in Istanbul: one of the president and the other of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic.
“We are happy, God fulfilled our wishes. Erdogan is a great leader and very powerful. He did a lot to make Turkey progress,” said Soner Ceylan, 52, a supporter of the president.
Spontaneous rallies to celebrate the victory also took place in other cities, especially in the Anatolian region in the center of the country.
The opposition candidate, who chairs the Republican People’s Party (CHP, secular) and brings together a six-party coalition, acknowledged defeat.
“I am deeply saddened by the difficulties that await the country,” he declared from his party headquarters in Ankara.
Key geopolitical role
Elections in Turkey, population 85 million and a NATO member, were closely watched by both Western powers and Middle Eastern countries due to their key geopolitical role.
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Erdogan on his victory, who took an equidistant position in the Ukraine war despite being part of the Atlantic Alliance.
“His victory in these elections is (…) a clear proof of the support of the Turkish people for his efforts to strengthen the sovereignty of the state and pursue an independent foreign policy,” Putin said, according to statements published on the Kremlin’s website.
“I hope that we continue to work together as NATO allies on bilateral issues and that we face the same global challenges,” US President Joe Biden reacted in a message on Twitter.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky also congratulated the AKP leader: “We hope for further (…) strengthening of cooperation for the security and stability of Europe,” Zelensky said in a message on Twitter.
The same did other European leaders, such as the French President, Emmanuel Macron, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, or the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. But also Latin Americans like the Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro and the Brazilian Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
a divided country
Erdogan embodies for many Turkish voters the promise of stability, despite the polarization in the country during the campaign.
Even in the areas devastated by the earthquake on February 6, voters gave their massive support to the president, who multiplied his promises on reconstruction.
“Erdogan played the nationalism card very skillfully, while the opposition failed to come up with a credible alternative,” said Galip Dalay, a research associate at the Middel East Council on Global Affairs.
The 74-year-old Social Democrat candidate led a heterogeneous coalition of parties, ranging from the nationalist right to the liberal center-left and was backed by the pro-Kurdish HDP party.
This earned him criticism from Erdogan who qualifies the opposition as “terrorist”, due to the support of the pro-Kurdish formation.
In the first round, there were numerous verbal challenges from the opposition, which this time decided to place five observers at each ballot box, a mobilization of one million people.
The testimonies of different voters interviewed by the AFP at the polling stations reflected the strong division in the country.
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