It has been called the biggest election in the world this year. On Sunday, the Turkish population voted for both their future president and members of parliament.
At 16:00 Danish time, the polling stations have been closed, and the big counting work awaits.
The Turkish media are not allowed to report results from the election before 20:00 Danish time, because they have been banned from broadcasting by the Turkish Radio and Television Council, RTÜK. Until then, the media may only carry official announcements from the country’s highest electoral authority, YSK.
But after 20:00 the world will be able to follow the counting of the votes directly.
It is the presidential election in particular that has caused the world to hold its breath and wait in anticipation for the election results.
The latest opinion polls have shown that Turkey’s president since 2014, Recep Tayyip Erdogan from the conservative AKP party, has reason to be worried this time.
In recent times, Erdogan has been under pressure from the country’s poor economy and high inflation, which has hit the Turks’ wallets hard. And then devastating earthquakes in February have put further pressure on him.
Although there are three presidential candidates, the showdown is really between two of them. Namely Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the opposition’s leading candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu from Turkey’s oldest party CHP.
To become president, one of the candidates must have at least 50 percent of the vote plus one vote. Otherwise, the election will proceed to the second round in 14 days, where the people of Turkey will have to choose between the two candidates who received the most votes in the first round.
Erdogan has won the two previous presidential elections in 2014 and 2018 in the first round. 2014 was the first year in which the population had to elect the country’s president. In the past, it was the members of parliament who elected the president.
The elections in Turkey are free, but the country has previously been criticized because the elections have not been fair. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) criticized the 2018 presidential election because the state-controlled media favored the AKP.
Erdogan also drew criticism for using his election campaign to accuse “legitimate political opponents” of supporting terrorism.
Over 64 million Turks have the right to vote in the election on Sunday. Turnout is usually high.
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Source: Kristeligt Dagblad – Latest articles. by www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk.
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