Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections are less than two weeks away, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan facing unprecedented challenges that could end his two-decade rule.
Voters will head to the polls on May 14, deciding the fate of Turkey’s democracy less than three months after a February 6 earthquake killed more than 50,000 people and displaced more than more than 5.9 million across southern Turkey and northern Syria.
The elections also take place amid a serious economic crisis and what analysts say is democratic erosion under Erdogan’s government.
Polls predict a record voter turnout this year, and a tight race between Erdogan and the main opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and presidential nominee for the six-party Nation Alliance bloc.
Turkey’s demographics are also expected to play a role. Most of the provinces struck by the February earthquake were strongholds of Erdogan and his AK Party. But Supreme Election Council (YSK) chief Ahmet Yener said last month that at least 1 million voters in quake-stricken zones are expected not to vote this year amid displacement. MORE
Good! The Sultan Tayyip has been around too long and that includes that Imelda Marcos type wife.
unless Dominion Voting Machines win the contract