Leader seeks greater power in key election
ISTANBUL — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has never lost an election, is taking a gamble that will consolidate his hold on power in Turkey if he emerges victorious from Sunday’s landmark presidential and parliamentary vote.
But winning the election he called more than a year early might not be as straightforward as he might have hoped.
For the first time, Turkey’s disparate opposition — made up of secularists, nationalists, Islamists and Kurds — is showing a more united front, with some parties joining forces. Meanwhile the economy, to which Erdogan could once point as a shining example of his success in bringing prosperity to his people, is looking increasingly shaky.
“The polls suggest that for the electorate, the economic issues are overtaking security issues,” said Serhat Guvenc, professor at Kadir Has University.
The elections will complete the transformation of Turkey’s politics that began with a 2017 referendum to switch from a parliamentary to a presidential system of government. It will concentrate power in the hands of the president, who will be able to form the government, issue decrees and prepare the budget. The prime minister’s position will be abolished.
Critics say the new system will undermine checks and balances on governance. Erdogan counters that the changes are necessary to ensure stability in a country that faces an array of security threats and has a history of political instability, including several coups since the 1960s. Erdogan himself survived an attempted coup in 2016, which led to a sweeping crackdown in response. The state of emergency he declared in the aftermath is still in place today. Five candidates are running against Erdogan for president. The surprise opposition stars have emerged as Muharrem Ince, a 54- year- old former physics teacher with the center- left Republican People’s Party who has run an unexpectedly engaging campaign, and nationalist Meral Aksener, 61, who has formed the Good Party consisting of nationalists and centerright figures.
Opinion polls suggest that while Erdogan is still the most likely to win, he might not manage to muster the more than 50 percent of votes needed to avoid a second round on July 8, while his party could lose its majority in parliament. That could potentially lead to a situation where Erdogan is president but the opposition controls parliament.