Next (Sunday) the marathon of the Turkish presidential elections will start, which many analysts see as the most important and difficult in the history of modern Turkey, as it comes in important internal political conditions that the country has gone through, in addition to the presence of external events surrounding the countries of the Middle East, which makes the results of the features of the electoral map difficult. Presidential elections in the coming hours, which are elections that some see as fateful for the current President Recep Erdogan, and decisive for the opposition parties that united with their candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who is leading the battle for the presidential race in cooperation with six other Turkish parties. And the candidate of the “ATA” Nationalist Alliance, Sinan Ogan.
President Erdogan is seeking a third presidential term, and he had previously announced that his party’s campaign slogan would be the “Turkish Century”, in reference to his promises that the centenary of the founding of the Turkish Republic will witness economic and geopolitical transformations, making his country a pioneer of the 21st century in the world.
The strategic thinker, Major General Dr. Samir Faraj, considered in statements to “Okaz” that the presidential elections come this time on a hot plate, as they are the most difficult elections that Erdogan has run since he came to power nearly two decades ago, attributing their difficulty this time to the many challenges that exist inside the country, including the vulnerability With the global economic crisis as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the decline in the exchange rate of the lira, and the desire of some voices for change.
He pointed out that the elections are months after the effects of the devastating earthquake that affected an area of ten provinces, or nearly 500 km2, at a cost of billions of dollars in losses, and that there are 6 million young people for the first time who will have an electoral vote, and many do not know the identity of these people. The current regime or with change, and therefore the accounts of these elections are different from the previous one.
Faraj expected several surprises to occur at the level of the Turkish voter’s decision to choose his president, who has the power to determine the fate of the election results, pointing out that both of the most fortunate candidates, “Erdogan” and “Kiljdar”, enjoy popular support, and one of them will win by a difference that may not exceed 1 to 2. % of the vote.
For his part, the researcher in international relations, Dr. Hani Suleiman, believes that the Turkish presidential elections are taking place at a sensitive time, due to the presence of many internal variables, with regional and international events, stressing that despite the decline in the popularity of the Justice and Development Party, the question that imposes itself is whether The existing opposition is capable of bringing about alternatives in Turkey, or is it capable of bringing about change in the country? The answer is that there is no opposition capable of presenting real alternatives, and there are crowds supporting President Erdogan to continue ruling, just as there is a group that fears the unknown in light of global events, and wants to stick to its current president in those circumstances that the countries of the world are going through, and Ankara’s rapprochement with regional countries And global and ending the differences, expecting that the scenario is that President Erdogan will be able to achieve a new presidential victory, so that he can obtain a third term, albeit by winning slightly more votes than his opposition rival, which will constitute a defining event in the history of the ruling party in Turkey by continuing for another five years. led the country.
He told Okaz that despite the catastrophe of the earthquakes, and the Turkish humanitarian and financial disasters it left behind, the regime showed great response to that crisis, reconstruction and taking into account the humanitarian conditions of the families of the victims, which led to the ruling party entering the elections, and it is keen to harvest The highest number of votes.
