As the 14 May presidential and parliamentary elections draw closer, Turkey has entered the final stretch of the race between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the opposition’s joint candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
Just three days before the historic polls, in which Kurdish votes are expected to play a decisive role, Kılıçdaroğlu leads Erdoğan in the latest Turkish election poll, while the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) warns voters against manipulation.
*Updated at 1:28 pm (CET)
Opposition cotender withdraws candidacy
Muharrem Ince, opposition contender for the 14 May Turkish presidential elections, has withdrawn his candidacy, avoiding the potential of splitting the anti-Erdoğan vote and significantly improving the opposition’s chances of securing a victory against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
HDP warns against manipulation
With just three days to go until the 14 May elections, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has released a statement saying it has completed all preparations for the security of the ballot boxes, and is urging voters to be vigilant against “any and all perception operations and manipulations.”
The statement, signed by the HDP Election Monitoring and Coordination Centre, highlights the success of the party’s campaign in spite of attacks by the ruling AKP-MHP coalition. The statement notes that while concerns have been raised about the possibility of election fraud, the HDP will ensure the security of the ballot boxes, and is prepared for any provocation by the government.
The party plans to have over 100,000 volunteers and more than 3,000 lawyers guarding the polling stations. The statement also reveals that the HDP will have a three-fold system of monitoring the ballot box results, and will work closely with the electoral commission to ensure that any discrepancies are addressed immediately. Finally, the HDP is urging voters to be aware of possible manipulation and to follow the party’s official statements in the event of any manipulated results being released by the government or the media.
Kılıçdaroğlu leads Erdoğan in latest Turkish election poll
One of Turkey’s leading polling companies, KONDA, has released its latest election poll results. According to the survey conducted on May 6-7, after distributing the undecided votes in the first round of the presidential election, Kılıçdaroğlu received 49.3 percent of the vote, while Erdoğan received 43.7 percent.
The poll also shows that Kılıçdaroğlu has increased his popularity in the past month, while Erdoğan has lost support. KONDA suggests that if the trend continues, the election could be decided in the first round.
Electoral board of Turkey denies interior ministry’s request again
The Turkish Supreme Board of Elections (YSK) has denied the Interior Ministry’s request to utilise a parallel vote counting system during the country’s parliamentary and presidential elections on 14 May. The YSK cited concerns regarding election fraud and the possibility that the ruling party may try to undermine the results if the opposition emerges victorious. Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu had set up a tally infrastructure to monitor votes that could produce varying results from those provided by the election board, a move seen as an effort to delegitimise the opposition’s potential win. The YSK clarified that the Interior Ministry’s election tracking system, known as the Security and Emergency Coordination Centre (GAMER), has no function in the election process and is not permitted to acquire or collect information relating to the election.
Minister blames İmamoğlu for stone-throwing attack
Environment and Urbanisation Minister Murat Kurum has put the blame on Istanbul mayor and opposition vice presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu after İmamoğlu was attacked with stones during a rally in the northeastern Turkish province of Erzurum.
“If you go there to make a show, the nation will not honour you,” Kurum said in a speech on Thursday.
Supporters of the AKP and its far-right allies attacked İmamoğlu and his supporters at the rally on 7 May, injuring dozens of people.
Turkish gov’t continues to boast about dismissing elected Kurdish mayors
Interior Minister and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) parliamentary candidate Süleyman Soylu once again boasted during his election campaign about previously dismissing elected HDP mayors in Kurdish-majority cities, saying that the instruction came from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Soylu said that after he became the interior minister, Erdoğan told him that he was “disturbed with the HDP municipalities in the southeast” and instructed him to “immediately dismiss” the elected mayors. The minister added that the elected mayors were dismissed within two days following this instruction.
