Turkish election could go to second round as
Erdoğan attempts to claim victory
Opposition seeks to end Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s two
decades of dominance in biggest challenge to his leadership in decades
Ruth
Michaelson and Deniz Barış Narlı in Istanbul
Mon 15 May
2023 07.01 BST
Record high
turnout in a tightly fought election has presented the Turkish president Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan, with the greatest challenge to his leadership in two decades,
with signs that the vote was heading for a runoff even as Erdoğan attempted to
claim victory before an official vote count had ended.
Speaking to
a jubilant crowd of supporters, an energised and delighted Erdoğan declared:
“The fact that the election results have not yet been finalised does not
diminish the fact that our nation’s choice is clearly in favor of us.”
Despite
Turkey’s supreme election council, the YSK, declaring that the count had not
yet finished in either the parliamentary or presidential election, Erdoğan
claimed his alliance had won a majority.
“We believe
I will finish with above 50 percent in the first round,” he added, projecting
an outright win the presidential election without the need for a run-off.
Erdoğan’s
rival, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, hit back in a more subdued speech: “Despite all of
his lies and attacks, Erdoğan did not receive the desired outcome. No one
should be enthusiastic about this being a done deal. The election is not won on
the balcony,” he said.
He added:
“We will definitely, definitely win this election in the second round. Everyone
will see it. Preliminary results show that Erdoğan did not receive the public
confidence vote that he expected. The need for a change in society exceeds 50%.
The AKP’s loss of votes demonstrates this too. The process of entering
[election] data is ongoing. If the nation opts for a second round, it is more
than welcome.”
The head of
Turkey’s election board said early on Monday that Erdogan was leading with
49.49%, with 91.93% of ballot boxes opened. Kılıçdaroğlu had 44.49% of votes.
As votes
came in from across the country, coverage of the ballot count became a
heightened example of the storm of misinformation that has marked the 45 days
of the election cycle, including several deployments of deepfake videos.
Officials
from the YSK moved to cool any tensions surrounding early results published by
the state news agency, amid anger from leading opposition figures and claims
the government had demanded repeated recounts of ballots in areas likely to
deliver a victory for Kılıçdaroğlu, of the Republican People’s party (CHP),
slowing the input of opposition votes into the system.
“There are
no disruptions or delays,” said YSK spokesperson Ahmet Yener, during one of
multiple press conferences intended to clarify the percentage of overall votes
officially counted. The YSK figure has been consistently 20% fewer than that
published by the state news agency, Anadolu, which instead described “ballot
boxes opened” on its website.
In a brief
speech, Kılıçdaroğlu said: “In the ballot boxes where our votes are high, they
blocked the system with repeated objections. There are persistent objections
for instance in 200 ballot boxes in Ankara and 783 ballot boxes in Istanbul.
There are ballot boxes where the vote has been contested six times, 11 times.
What you block is the will of Turkey. You cannot prevent it from happening with
these objections.”
He added:
“Stop this perception management: this is serious. Let the votes come in. Let the
results be announced as soon as possible. This country can no longer tolerate
uncertainty. Do not be afraid of the will of the people.
“I invite
the election authority to act responsibly … let’s not block the will of this
nation. I’m calling out to our election observers on the ground, never abandon
the ballot boxes and election votes. We’re here until the last vote is
counted.”
The close
race marked a vote in parliamentary and presidential elections that quickly
transformed into a referendum on Erdoğan’s two decades in power, amid an
energised and unusually broad base of opposition united around the singular aim
of toppling a leader who has reshaped Turkey in his image.
If no
candidate in the presidential election receives 50% of the vote, a second round
runoff will be held on 28 May between the top two candidates. Ultra-nationalist
presidential candidate Sinan Oğan, who early results indicated would probably
receive about 5% of the vote, reduced the chances of either Erdoğan or
Kılıçdaroğlu gaining a clear victory.
A six-party
opposition coalition headed by Kılıçdaroğlu is fighting to win both a
parliamentary majority and the presidency in order to enact sweeping reforms,
overhauling two decades of Erdoğan policies and returning Turkey to
parliamentary democracy. If they succeed, it would mark a rare instance of a
public unseating an entrenched populist leader through the democratic process.
Kılıçdaroğlu,
a member of Turkey’s Alevi religious minority, said he intends to step back
from Erdoğan’s heavy-handed control of public institutions and the media,
promising a more inclusive Turkey and an end to the combative style of politics
that Erdoğan is known for. The CHP leader has also promised to deport millions
of Syrian and Afghan refugees who sought shelter in Turkey from conflicts at
home.
Voters
across Turkey said that a worsening cost of living crisis and the government’s
response to twin deadly earthquakes that killed more than 50,000 people were
what drove them to the polls.
Many
younger voters said they had turned their back on the AKP, expressing
excitement that they could vote out the only political leader they had known in
their adult lives. In the Istanbul district of Kasımpaşa, where Erdoğan grew
up, three voters in their mid-20s said they were all voting for the CHP.
“No one in
Gen Z votes for the AKP,” said 26-year-old Evin. “Erdoğan could absolutely
lose, I don’t believe he can win, there isn’t even a 1% chance.”
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