The People’s Alliance — comprising six political parties led by Justice and Development Party (AKP), whose presidential candidate is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — and the Nation Alliance also with six political parties, led by the Republican People's Party (CHP), whose presidential candidate is Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu — are engaged in a fierce political battle for power.
Elections for the presidency and parliament will be held on 14 May.
Tayyip Erdoğan has ruled Türkiye for the last 22 years, as prime minister (2003 to 2014) and then as president (2014 to present). He aims to be elected for a third time and to have AKP keep its majority in the parliament.
This will be Erdoğan’s most challenging election. Polls, as of today, indicate that Kılıçdaroğlu is leading. Erdoğan’s camp have dismissed these polls, insisting the incumbent is comfortably in the lead.
Erdoğan is leading a conservative/nationalist alliance which is quite odd in many ways. Ultra nationalist parties and an ultra-religious party of Kurds, and parties which have been formed with breakaways from other parties within the alliance have joined their forces to have Erdoğan re-elected.
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Despite the complex structure of his alliance, Erdoğan accuses the opposition of being a collection of parties that have nothing in common except the blind ambition to push him out of power.
He says the opposition has no vision, no project and “will derail Turkey” from being a global leader — a path he insists the country is heading under his leadership.
He also has intensified his efforts to portray Kılıçdaroğlu and his allies as collaborators of the PKK terror organisation. Erdoğan claims that if Kılıçdaroğlu wins, he will, in no time, release terror convicts.
The opposition dismisses Erdoğan’s claims as propaganda aimed at scaring voters into voting for him.
“It's the economy, stupid”
At the forefront of this election is the economy, which is not performing well. Even government statistics offices — who always try to a paint a rosy picture — cannot hide from it.
Back in 2002, people voted for AKP because of the bad economy and the 1999 earthquake. Now, 21 years later, if Erdoğan and the AKP are going to lose the elections, it will be because of the economy and the earthquake.
In general, economic data reveals that in terms of inflation, living standards and poverty rates, Turkey is back to 2002 levels. Inflation — and subsequently prices — are so high and everything, including essentials such as food, is so expensive that people are poorer and their purchasing power is less.
