As his country stands on the verge of its centenary, Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has framed the next 100 years as the ‘Century of Turkey’.
Similar arresting interpretations of the May 14 elections include either a prolongation of Erdogan’s two-decade dominance or a government promising to switch from the current executive president to a parliamentary one.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that many consider the May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections to be the most significant since 1950, when Turkey held its first free and fair multi-party election.
They are occurring in the midst of a crisis in the cost of living, which saw inflation reach an all-time high of 85% in October, and quakes in February that left more than 50,000 people dead nationwide.
Erdogan, who came to power in 2003, is offering a vision of further development, promising to extend the improvements made by his Adalet ve Kalkınma Party (Justice and Development, AK Party) government.
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It is the second national election under the presidential system that concentrated power in Erdogan’s hands.
The main opposition challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, has pledged further democratisation and to roll back Erdogan’s ‘one-man rule’ while addressing what he calls economic mismanagement.
AK Party parliamentarian Ravza Kavakci Kan also highlighted the importance of the vote. “This election is extra important because currently, we are at a pace where a lot of very good projects are being brought to the public.”
The most recent polls show Kilicdaroglu leading Erdogan in the presidential race, which will be rerun in two weeks if none of the three candidates passed the 50-percent threshold. In the parliamentary election, however, the AK Party is predicted to be the largest party in the Grand National Assembly.
Africa Today News, New York reports that the withdrawal of a fourth presidential candidate – the Homeland Party’s Muharrem Ince – on Thursday is expected to translate into more votes for Kilicdaroglu.
Some 192,000 ballot boxes across 87 electoral districts are open between 8am and 5pm (05:00 and 14:00 GMT). Each of Turkey’s 81 provinces counts as an electoral constituency apart from Izmir, Bursa, Istanbul and Ankara, which are split into two or three voting regions.
Across the country, 60.7 million people are eligible to vote. Some 1.8 million Turkish citizens living abroad have already cast their ballots in 73 countries or at border gates.
The votes will see both the president and 600 members of parliament appointed for five years. Parliamentary deputies are selected by proportional representation from party lists.