Runoff will determine if Erdogan keeps leading key NATO country
ANKARA, TURKEY — Turkish voters will head back to the polls in two weeks for a runoff election to decide if conservative President Recep Tayyip Erdogan or his main rival will lead a country struggling with sky-high inflation as it plays a key role in NATO expansion and in the Middle East.
The May 28 second round of presidential elections that election officials announced Monday will allow Turkey to decide if the nation remains under the increasingly authoritarian president for a third decade, or if it can embark on the more democratic course that Kemal Kilicdaroglu has claimed he can deliver.
As in previous years, the nationalist Erdogan led a highly divisive campaign.
He portrayed Kilicdaroglu, who had received the backing of the country’s pro-Kurdish party, of colluding with “terrorists” and supporting what he called “deviant” LGBTQ rights. As a devout leader of the predominantly Muslim country, which was founded on secular principles, Erdogan has had the backing of conservative voters and has courted more Islamists with anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
In a bid to woo voters hit hard by inflation, he increased wages and pensions and subsidized electricity and gas bills, while showcasing Turkey’s homegrown defense industry and infrastructure projects.
Some voters said the results announced Monday should strengthen Turkish democracy by reminding Erdogan of the important of convincing voters. Sena Dayan said she voted for the Erdogan alliance, but wasn’t upset at the need for a runoff.
“I believe this is good for the government, and better for our future, to look back at mistaken decisions,” Dayan said in Istanbul. “Erdogan is too confident in himself.
The people broke this confidence a bit.”
For others, Sunday’s vote showed how polarized Turkey has become.
“I am not happy at all,” voter Suzan Devletsah said. “I worry about the future of Turkey.”
Kilicdaroglu leads the pro-secular main opposition party, which was established by the founder of modern Turkey. He promises to reverse crackdowns on free speech and other forms of democratic backsliding and to repair an economy battered by high inflation and currency devaluation.
The latest official statistics put inflation at about 44%, down from a high of around 86%, but independent experts estimate them as much higher.
As the results came in, it appeared those elements didn’t shake up the electorate as many expected. Turkey’s conservative heartland overwhelmingly voted for the ruling party, with Kilicdaroglu’s main opposition winning most of the coastal provinces in the west and south.