“The pandemics, wars, financial crises, food crises, etc. that humanity has experienced [shortages] “They once again demonstrated the importance of strong and stable political leadership,” Erdogan’s spokesman Fahrettin Altun told Politico.
Altun emphasized the international scope of Erdogan’s ambitions, adding that if re-elected, Turkey would aim to act not only as a “stable and effective regional power” but also as a “strong international actor” with its own foreign policy and security solutions.
Election Machine
Still, the scale of the disaster has traumatized millions of Turks and will only compound the challenges Erdogan has already faced this year, driven in large part by Turkey’s economic difficulties, including soaring inflation and a record trade deficit. The maverick economist is seen as adding fuel to the fires of rising prices by slashing interest rates.
The country’s fragmented opposition has finally rallied behind a single candidate, Kılıçdaroglu | Adem Altan/AFP via Getty Images
The country’s divided opposition has finally unified behind a candidate: Kılıçdaroğlu, the longtime leader of the main opposition secularist party, who is as soft-spoken as Erdogan is brash. And crucially, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party has also said it will not field a candidate, potentially further unifying the voting front against Erdogan.
While the opposition believes they have never seen such momentum before, Erdogan’s camp claims that the president’s extensive, private opinion polls show otherwise, adding that when people are asked who they think will win the election (which often accurately predicts the final outcome), more than 50% say Erdogan.
“Erdogan is an election machine,” the CHP official acknowledged. “We are not taking the elections for granted. We need to know how the ballot boxes and voter rolls in the earthquake areas will be organized.”
