Erdogan’s future is in doubt as Turks cast ballots in bitterly contested elections

On Sunday, Turkey will hold presidential and parliamentary elections. It is expected that this election will be one of the closest in recent memory and one of the most significant on a national and international level. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has reigned for more than 20 years, will find out his political future based on the results of the referendum.

In a nation where voter participation is among the highest in the world, Sunday’s elections are expected to see a record-high turnout. President Erdogan, who is currently in office, and Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who is running against him, both assert that this election is the most significant in the nation’s history.

Voting began as soon as the polls opened in Istanbul’s Kadikoy neighborhood. The economy was Mustafa’s top worry as a voter; he just wanted to go by his first name.

The economy, he continued, is crucial. Simply by looking around, you can see how horrible things are everywhere.

With over 40% inflation and a crisis in the cost of living, many people view the economy as the most important issue. The most crucial issue, according to Zehra, a pharmacist who also only wanted to be addressed by her first name, was democracy.

As she put it, “For me, the main issue is to move from one-man rule and return to a pluralist democracy so that all the opinions will be represented.”

Erdogan has transformed the federal government into a strong executive presidency that enables him to rule by executive order. Assertions that such centralized authorities were to blame for slow responses to the terrible earthquakes in February that claimed more than 50,000 lives are false, according to Erdogan. Kilicdaroglu, though, has vowed to restore Turkey to a parliamentary democracy. Given that the country is in a volatile region, Erdogan maintains that such capabilities are essential. Voter Ali Demir concurs with this position.

He declared, “The foreigners are trying to undermine us in this election by dividing and destroying Turkey.”

Friday was Erdogan’s final campaign speech, in which he charged that US President Joe Biden was attempting to remove him from office through the ballot box.

Washington has stated that it doesn’t support any candidate in an election.

The strengthening of Ankara’s connections with Moscow and worries about democracy have strained ties between Turkey and its traditional Western partners in recent years. A restart with Turkey’s Western partners is what Kilicdaroglu is promising.