Turks are expected to head to the polls on Sunday to vote in presidential and legislative elections. Three candidates are in the running to win the future presidency, including the current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is seeking a third term.
The Turkish elections are considered decisive for the country because they come at a pivotal moment after three terms of President Erdogan, author of Turkey’s rebirth on the international scene and promoter of tourism, thus making the country a world reference .
But the economic crisis and the sharp depreciation of the Lira, Turkey’s national currency, has raised anger in the country, which could consent to a sanction vote, although perilous.
It will thus be up to the voters to decide between Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is seeking a third term, Sinan Oğan and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the three candidates in the running. However, observers believe that the presidential race will be between the outgoing president and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, two profiles with radically opposed currents. As for Sinan Oğan, opinion polls limit the possibility of victory.
This year, which coincides with the first centenary of the foundation of Turkey and for the first time, the president in office, finds himself in difficulty in the polls, below his main rival who managed to unite the opposition camps .
Turkish voters are faced with two choices, either to renew their confidence in Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party, who have been in power for more than 20 years, or to give the Alliance of Nations (composed of six opposition parties) and its candidate Kılıçdaroğlu, who promises a new societal and political project, in particular a return to parliamentarism.
These elections truly take the form of a referendum on the Erdogan regime and the presidential system that came into effect in 2018.
The Turkish president is facing a unified opposition for the first time, which has chosen to present a common candidate in the person of Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the Republican People’s Party.
In this context, Turkish voters, who number more than 64 million, are affected by the high cost of living, given an inflation rate which is currently close to 50%, after having reached 90% at the end of the last year, as well as the devaluation of the Turkish lira against the US dollar.