The May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey were seen by many as a crucial test for the country’s survival as a democracy.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who began his reign of Turkey in 2003 as Prime Minister, faced his toughest political fight. Mr. Erdogan was under fire as inflation touched 80% last year (it’s now hovering around 40%).
Turkey’s currency, the lira, has also fallen by 60% in two years and foreign investors are fleeing the country. Moreover, the February earthquake, in which more than 50,000 people were killed in Turkey, raised questions on both the government’s response and its construction permit policy.
As Mr. Erdogan was on the defensive, six Opposition parties came together (the Table of Six), including a Kurdish party, and fielded a common candidate, Kemal Kiliçdaroğlu, a mild-mannered former bureaucrat who promised to arrest Turkey’s “slide towards authoritarianism” and fix its economy.
But despite the initial momentum, the Opposition failed to unseat Mr. Erdogan. When the results were out, the President’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its coalition partner won a majority in Parliament, while he won 49.5% votes in the Presidential election. As Mr. Erdogan fell short of an outright victory, the country will go for a second round of polls.
Mr. Erdogan’s supporters, mostly Islamists, who see him as a strongman who stood up against the country’s secular Kemalist establishment, thronged the streets with Turkey’s national flags to celebrate their President’s lead. However, the fact that the Opposition denied a first-round victory to Mr. Erdogan is telling of the losing sheen of his brand of politics — a blend of Islamism, nationalism and welfare that’s rooted in Ottoman imperial nostalgia. Now, all eyes are on May 28, when Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Kiliçdaroğlu are ranged against each other in the Presidential run-off.
Text by Stanly Johny
Photo:
AFP
Nationalist base: Erdogan’s supporters, mostly Islamists, see him as a strongman who stood up against the country’s secular Kemalist establishment.
Photo:
AFP
Team Erdogan: Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan celebrate in front of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) headquarters after polls closed in Turkey’s presidental and parliamentary elections, in Istanbul, on May 14.
Photo:
Reuters
Anxious waiting: Voters gave Erdogan a lead in the presidential election but the country is headed for a runoff as he could not get an outright majority.
Photo:
Getty Images
The resistance: The political Opposition — the Republic People’s Party — held a rally in the Armutlu neighborhood, which was heavily damaged in the earthquake that struck Turkey in February.
Photo:
AFP
Challenger’s speech: Turkey’s Republican People’s Party (CHP) chairman and presidential candidate Kemal Kiliçdaroğlu addresses a crowd in the rain during an election campaign rally in Ankara on May 12.
Photo:
AFP
Back to the past: People take pictures wearing Ottoman costumes near Balikligol (or Pool of Abraham, HalilUr Rahman Lake), in the southwest of the city centre of Sanliurfa in Turkey. During his Presidency, Erdogan has increasingly drawn on Turkey’s Ottoman heritage.
Photo:
Reuters
Numbers game: Supporters of Erdogan, who has been in power for more than two decades — first as Prime Minister, then as President — form a strong base. But the runoff will decide if he can continue his reign.
Photo:
Reuters
Sea of support: Istanbul hosted the most crowded election rallies of the ruling Justice and Development Party.
Photo:
Reuters
Poll fever: A woman holds a placard at a rally organised by the ruling party.
Photo:
Reuters
Key date: The fate of Erdogan, whose party helped him craft a powerful role as head of state, will be known on May 28.
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