The streets of Istanbul, Turkey, witnessed increasingly fierce rivalry between political parties and presidential candidates ahead of the general election on Sunday (24/6). Parties’ campaign posts have cropped up along the Istiklal-Taksim Road.
By
MUSTHAFA ABD RAHMAN
·4 minutes read
AP PHOTO/LEFTERIS PITARAKIS
A woman walks under Turkish and various parties\' flags at a square in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. Turkey holds parliamentary and presidential elections on June 24, 2018, deemed important as it will transform Turkey\'s governing system to an executive presidency.
ISTANBUL, KOMPAS – The streets of Istanbul, Turkey, witnessed increasingly fierce rivalry between political parties and presidential candidates on Friday (22/6/2018), ahead of the general election on Sunday (24/6). Parties’ campaign posts have cropped up since Thursday (21/6) afternoon along the Istiklal-Taksim Road. Campaigners tried to attract potential voters passing through the road by playing various music.
Istiklal Road near Taksim square is famed as a shopping and culinary haven. It is a major magnet for foreign tourists visiting Istanbul.
The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) campaign post at the place was managed by Kurds. Nearby, there was another campaign post, run by sympathizers of the Republican People’s Party (CHP). Just 700 meters away, you can find a Justice and Development Party (AKP) campaign post distributing free snacks and bottled water to passersby.
Convoys of campaign vehicles from parties like the AKP and the CHP are also a common sight in Istanbul these days. The AKP’s blue campaign vehicles are adorned with the face of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is running for reelection. The CHP’s campaign vehicles, with their white color and striking red line, are adorned with the face of presidential hopeful Muharrem Ince.
AP PHOTO/EMRAH GUREL
People walk past posters of Meral Aksener, the presidential candidate of nationalist opposition IYI (Good) Party, in Istanbul, Thursday, June 21, 2018. Aksener, 61, who split from Turkey\'s main nationalist party following a spat with its leader over his support to Turkey\'s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Police arrested 14 individuals in Ankara on Friday, according to local media reports. They were allegedly members of the Islamic State (IS) group seeking to disrupt the general election.
Accept reality
President Erdogan and ruling party AKP said they would accept any result in Sunday’s election. The statement was made amid expectations of a very tight race.
Erdogan said the AKP would strive to build a coalition if it failed to gain a parliamentary majority in the election. “If we win fewer than 300 seats, we will build a coalition,” he said.
According to Turkey’s new election law, the number of parliamentary seats has increased from 550 to 600.
Previously, Erdogan promised to revoke the country’s Emergency Law after the election. The law had been approved after the failed coup of July 2016. Erdogan is believed to have made that promise to attract voters. The Emergency Law has often be criticized by the opposition, the Turkish people and the international community.
AP/PRESIDENCY PRESS SERVICE
Turkey\'s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses supporters of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) during an election rally for the upcoming June 24, elections, in Kahramanmaras, eastern Turkey, Thursday, June 21, 2018.
On his visit to Istanbul’s new airport on Thursday, Erdogan also said he would shrink the cabinet from 26 ministers to 16 ministers if he secured reelection. He said this would simplify the bureaucracy and speed up decision-making processes.
Polls by independent pollsters show that it will be difficult for Erdogan to win the election in one round. It will be hard for the AKP to repeat its success of the November 2015 parliamentary election, when it gained an absolute majority. However, a poll by pro-government media network TVnet suggests that Erdogan can secure 53 percent of the vote and thereby win the election in one round.
This will be the first time Turkey holds presidential and parliamentary elections simultaneously. This is in accordance with the results of a 2017 constitutional amendment referendum that changed the country’s system of government from parliamentary to presidential.
Five other hopefuls are contesting the presidential election. One of them is the HDP’s Selahattin Demirtas, who is currently behind bars. He was incarcerated in 2016 after he had been accused of supporting terrorism. HDP member Ali Demirtas told Kompas at a HDP post on the Istiklal-Taksim Road that Demirtas’ current situation strengthened the party’s struggle. “I believe that the HDP will pass the parliamentary threshold of 10 percent of the vote. We will take away votes from the AKP,” he said.
AP PHOTO/LEFTERIS PITARAKIS
In this Thursday, June 14, 2018 photo, a banner of Muharrem Ince, centre, presidential candidate of Turkey\'s main opposition Republican People\'s Party, is held up in the background where another banner of Turkish Republic founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (right) decorates an election rally by Turkey\'s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Yalova, Turkey.
CHP sympathizer Abdurrahman Cetin said the CHP’s campaign post had been set up to help the struggle to end Erdogan’s “dictatorial leadership”.
CHP presidential candidate Muharrem Ince said he would return Turkey to the West if elected. “We choose Europe and NATO, and we will go to Europe soon if elected,” Ince told several European ambassadors to Turkey.
