Turkey Update – Election Results & more – 16th May 2023

th of May: 2023

On Sunday the 14th, Turkey voted in the presidential and parliamentary elections. The ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, got the majority of the seats in the parliament, with the opposition the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, following it, but the presidential election results aren’t definitive yet. The objection period for the results lasts till three PM Turkish Time on Tuesday, and the Supreme Election Board will take a few days to evaluate the objections.

However, the results suggest that there will be a second presidential election on the 28th of May, as the current results show that none of the candidates got 50% of the votes. Though Erdoğan currently needs less than 1% to pass 50%, he might push it after the objections are evaluated.

Speaking of presidential candidates,

lieves is responsible for the: 2016

The election polls suggested that Kılıçdaroğlu would win with ease, and the public in the opposition’s rallies agreed with the data. However, that wasn’t the result in the actual elections. Many opposition voters went into the booths thinking the election was a done deal. In the early hours of the vote counting, despite what mainstream news agencies suggested, the CHP had claimed that the official votes suggested that Kılıçdaroğlu was leading. The CHP also said that the AKP was objecting to the results in areas where Kılıçdaroğlu was leading, and the votes had to be recounted again and again.

What about the other candidate, Sinan Oğan?

Well, he exceeded expectations as well. He got over 5% of the votes. Some say that he’s the reason why the elections are going to the second round. For some, this is a good thing, and for some it’s bad. Voters of both Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu believe that if Sinan Oğan hadn’t been a candidate, their candidate would have passed the 50% threshold, but there’s no way to know. Sinan Oğan said that he will announce who his party will support in the second round, and added that whoever it is, would win with ease.

Moving on…

In his post-election speech, the head of the Supreme Election Board said that the voting period went on smoothly and peacefully. However, in his following sentence, he sent his condolences to the polling clerk who died on duty, and other citizens who had heart attacks and passed away while voting. It sounds like the opposite of a peaceful environment, but at least there was no civil unrest.

On the last days of election campaigns, Kılıçdaroğlu and Ekrem İmamoğlu wore bulletproof vests to their rallies amid assassination threats. Kılıçdaroğlu’s security guards also carried assault rifles with them on the stage. This is the first time the opposition has ever had this extensive security precautions at a rally.

Let’s move on to what happened on the night of the elections…

Three opposition media outlets, Halk TV, and Sözcü and Cumhuriyet newspapers reported that there were cyber attacks on their websites. The Sözcü newspaper tweeted that their website couldn’t be reached because of the attacks.

There have been many reports of election violations all over the country. In Turkey, citizens vote in small booths and they are to go in the cabin alone. However, some people reported that some clerks went into the booths with older citizens who couldn't read and stamped the ballots for them. There’ve also been some videos going around on social media where one person votes for Erdoğan on tens of presidential ballots.

On another note, the week before the election, opposition supporters photoshopped the presidential ballot on some clips from TV series and movies where actors are slamming their fists on the table to make it look like they were voting for Kılıçdaroğlu, implying that they were very passionate about voting for him. Some supporters tried to recreate these videos in real life. There have been many reports of voters breaking the stamps while voting, and polling clerks started warning citizens to be gentle with the stamps.

Some news on international relations…

Before the elections, Kılıçdaroğlu accused Russia of interfering in and manipulating the election process through creating and spreading fake stories, images and audios of the opposition to discredit them. He added that if Russia wanted to continue having good relations with Turkey after the 15th of May, it should ‘keep its hands off Turkey’. Russia denied these accusations, but Kılıçdaroğlu said that he had concrete proof of it, though he didn’t share it.

Despite this conflict, on the day of the election, the Russian government announced that it respects the will of the Turkish people, and will continue their friendship with Turkey regardless of who wins the elections.

Speaking of public reaction to the results…

The main focus of Erdoğan’s election campaign was the TOGG cars and the alleged natural gas found in the Black Sea, whereas Kılıçdaroğlu led a campaign focused on diminishing poverty. The People’s Alliance, the ruling alliance, as well as its supporters always talked about technological advances in the defense industry and the TOGG cars, and the opposition replied saying that the citizens can barely afford living. “People are hungry.” has become a slogan for opposition supporters. However, after the voting results came in, many started saying “apparently, people aren’t hungry.” Similarly, the Sözcü newspaper published an article titled “People are full of TOGG.” an ironic pun, implying that the people chose the TOGG car even when they cannot afford a full stomach.

Back to election results…

The Kahramanmaraş earthquake devastated southeastern Turkey and affected millions of people. The government had a lot of shortcomings and wrongdoings in the earthquake zones which resulted in the death of many in collapsed buildings. It was said that because of this, the ruling party and Erdoğan wouldn’t get many votes there. However, shockingly, Erdoğan got the majority of votes in the areas affected by the earthquake, and so did his party. Even in Hatay, which used to be a predominantly opposition city, Erdoğan was the leading candidate. Some pointed out that the government treated Hatay as a second-class city in the aftermath of the earthquake. Hatay was the one of the last cities to receive government resources and rescue teams, despite Erdoğan saying that he “didn’t discriminate against Hatay because it is a CHP municipality” while talking about his party’s accomplishments in the area. The voting results caused a stir on social media. The opposition supporters criticized the earthquake survivors for voting for the man and the ideology that were responsible for the devastation in the earthquake zone.

On that note about the earthquake…

On Friday the 12th, Kerem Kınık, the head of the Turkish Red Crescent, finally resigned from his position after Erdoğan said it saddened him that the Red Crescent had been selling tents. Recall that The Red Crescent faced backlash from selling tents to social aid organizations in the first days of the devastating Kahramanmaraş earthquake instead of sending them directly to the zone of the quake. Kınık had refused to resign up until Friday. Following his resignation, it was open to question whether he resigned because of Erdoğan’s remarks or because this was allegedly a country with a ‘one man regime’

Aaaaand that’s it for this week! We are a few people trying to share knowledge, with no ads, and no screens. Support us so we can keep doing what we love. Check the link in our show notes to support us.

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