Erdogan starts with a 2.5 million advantage for the second round | In Türkiye a social democrat could surprise in the presidential elections

2023-05-16 05:01:00

For the first time in its history, Türkiye will decide in the second round who will govern the country’s destinies. After an election day filled with accusations of manipulation between ruling party and opposition, the Electoral Commission confirmed that Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan achieved 49.5 percent of the votefour points more than his Social Democratic rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

Erdogan has been in power in Turkey as prime minister or president since 2003. The figures obtained by the president refuted the polls that placed him on a par with Kilicdaroglu, 74, and attributed this decline to the serious economic and inflationary crisis, as well as as well as criticism for the late response to the earthquake that in February claimed more than 50,000 lives.

With a view to the second round on May 28, Erdogan leaves with an advantage of 2.5 million votes over Kilicdaroglu. The 74-year-old opposition candidate asked his supporters on Monday not to despair and promised that he would win the elections. His party, the CHP, accused the pro-government media on Sunday of manipulating and delaying the publication of the data, and promised an electoral turnaround that, in the end, did not come.

The outcome of May 28 will be greatly influenced by the fate of the almost three million votes cast by the third presidential candidate, the nationalist Sinan Ogan.. “We will consult our voter base on our decision in the second round. But we have already made it clear that the fight against terrorism and sending refugees are our red lines,” Ogan said Monday.

The ultranationalist politician let it be known that he will recommend to his followers that they vote for the candidate that guarantees the proscription of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, which defends the rights of the Kurdish minority. It is difficult to predict how Ogan’s supporters will vote, since among them there are nationalists with positions close to Erdogan on the Kurdish issue, but also secularists opposed to the Islamism of the current president.