President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday officially set Türkiye’s presidential and parliamentary elections for May 14, signing live on television the decision that brought the schedule forward by a month.
“Our nation will go to the polls to elect its president and parliamentarians on May 14,” Erdoğan said after inking the decision, kicking off the countdown to the vote that stands to be monumental for Türkiye, both in terms of foreign and domestic policy and economic outlook.
Following the release of the decision in the Official Gazette, the Supreme Election Council (YSK) will now determine the electoral calendar for the next two months. A runoff presidential election would be held on May 28 if none of the candidates secure more than 50% of the vote.
On Monday, Türkiye’s disparate six opposition parties too ended months of fractious debate and uncertainty that frustrated supporters and opponents alike and named as their candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the chair of Republican People’s Party (CHP), which headlines the electoral coalition Nation Alliance with five other parties.
Erdoğan is also expected to formally nominate himself on behalf of the People’s Alliance, under which his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are partners.
According to the opposition, it will be a tight race, while some polls show Erdoğan in the lead against the six parties.
Türkiye is grappling with a cost-of-living crisis and the aftermath of the powerful Feb. 6 earthquakes that killed more than 46,000 people and left hundreds of thousands of people across 11 Turkish provinces sheltering in tents or temporary accommodations.
“May our decision to renew the elections be beneficial for our country, our nation, Parliament and our political parties,” Erdoğan said Friday.
The much-anticipated elections were scheduled to be held on June 18, but the government moved them forward to avoid conflicting with the hajj pilgrimage, a university entrance exam and the start of the summer vacation season.
“We know May 14, a date coinciding with the anniversary of our democratic history, is met with a kind reception among our people. However, the two back-to-back earthquakes have pushed all debates on the election and its date aside,” Erdoğan went on to say.
“While the adverse winter conditions, severely damaged infrastructure and the scale of the disaster made our job incredibly difficult, we have managed to find a way to run to the rescue of our people,” he stressed.
Arguing that his administration sought to turn the process into “a meaningful race that will erase the traces of the Feb. 6 destruction,” Erdoğan said, “If the May 14 process is made into a platform for barren political quarrels and slander campaigns, we would have sinned before 85 million people.”
Erdoğan further signaled that he will base his electoral campaign on the reconstruction of the earthquake-devastated provinces, trying to convince voters that only his government – which was behind a construction boom that helped drive economic growth – can rebuild lives. He had previously confirmed a soon-to-come presidential decree would ensure that earthquake survivors, who had to change cities and addresses, could cast their votes.
“The way to ensuring normalization in the stricken region and across our country is through the astute implementation of decisions that will be made by a strong political willpower,” Erdoğan argued.
He stressed that Türkiye could “not look into the future with trust without compensating for the economic, social and psychological losses of the earthquakes.”
“It’s a must for our country to put this election agenda behind us to recover from and eliminate all traces of the earthquakes, and to boost production and employment. Our agenda will again consist of healing the wounds of the survivors and compensating the economic and social damages of the disaster,” he said, listing a first batch of some 319,000 residences set to be delivered to the rightful owners within the year.
“We will not stop working until all 3.5 million people in these cities have a new, safe and peaceful living space,” he vowed.
As for the details of his electoral campaign, Erdoğan assured it would be without music in light of the recent tragedy. “We will proceed with our campaign in one-on-one talks,” he noted.
Additionally, the president left the door open for “support for our sincere call from anyone who will run with us, the People’s Alliance’s candidate, who will fight for representation at Parliament.”
While Erdoğan’s concentration will be on taming inflation and reviving and rehabilitating the devastated southeast, his opponents are promising to roll back existing economic policies and introduce a major shift in foreign policy, as well as a return to what they call the Strengthened Parliamentary System.
The bloc also looks to have leaders of the other five parties as vice presidents if Kılıçdaroğlu clinches the vote, which would mean eight state heads steering the country, in addition to a prime minister’s office.
