Spokesman Report
Islamabad: Three candidates will run for Türkiye’s top office Sunday as more than 60 million voters will go to the polls for presidential elections. A total of 24 political parties and 151 independent candidates will compete for 600 seats.
The vote is viewed as critical both for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the opposition. The opposition bloc of six parties is the strongest rival incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has faced in the more than a dozen elections he competed in the past two decades. The opposition, represented by Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in the presidential election, sees it as the last chance to defeat Erdoğan, who has dominated the political landscape as prime minister and the president for years.
Apart from Kılıçdaroğlu of the Nation Alliance, Erdoğan will compete against the Ata Alliance, made up of smaller, nationalist parties who nominated academic Sinan Oğan. Muharrem Ince, the only candidate without an alliance, dropped out of the race on Thursday, though his name will remain on the ballots cast on Sunday.
The election day also marks the anniversary of the first multiparty, truly democratic elections of the Republic of Türkiye in 1950. Since then, Türkiye weathered four major coups, including the one that ousted the Democrat Party, the winner of the 1950 elections. Ultimately, democracy prevailed as the military juntas collapsed, defeated or withdrew.
The candidates will secure a five-year term if they can gain the majority at 191,884 ballot boxes set up at polling stations across Türkiye. Overseas voting already ended earlier this week while Turkish citizens living abroad will be allowed to cast their ballots at border crossings and airports until the same deadline with voters in Türkiye.
On Sunday, more than 4.9 million people will vote for the first time. The parties and candidates strived to win the hearts of first-time voters, mostly “Generation Z,” throughout their campaign period. First-timers may play a key role in influencing the outcome of the tight race.
The elections are also the first since the Feb. 6 earthquakes that hit Türkiye’s southern regions. Dubbed the “disaster of the century” for the sheer scale of the destruction, the two massive earthquakes killed more than 50,000 people and affected 11 provinces. The Supreme Election Council (YSK) set up temporary polling stations in provinces affected by the disaster where the majority of the population still reside in temporary housing units while a massive reconstruction is underway.
Voters originally from the earthquake-hit provinces will be able to cast their ballots in cities and towns they resettled in, but their votes will be added to the votes of the city they currently reside, rather than the earthquake-hit provinces where they were initially registered to vote.
Some 133,000 voters from earthquake-hit provinces are now registered in other provinces.
The polls will open at 8 a.m. and close at 5 p.m. The unofficial election results are expected to be declared by the YSK in a few hours after the polls close.
This is also the first election with the possibility of a second round. If none of the candidates can secure more than 50% of the vote, a second round will be held on May 28.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) on Friday, YSK President Ahmet Yener said they took every measure to ensure a safe and smooth election. “We have all measures for a healthy election environment in place. All measures are taken against possible power outages on the day of the election and possible cyberattacks,” he assured.
Also speaking on overseas votes, Yener said they were brought to Türkiye safely under the supervision of diplomatic couriers by planes allocated solely to transportation of the votes and under the watch of representatives of political parties. “It will be a celebration of democracy. I advise all eligible citizens to cast their votes,” he said.