Turkey's general elections are scheduled for 2023. Turks will elect a new president as well as 600 members of Turkey's Grand National Assembly, each for a 5-year term.
This means that there are only 16 months left until the Turkish parliamentary and presidential elections slated for June 2023. As the election date approaches, Turkey's political scene has become more lively and public debates have increased.
The Justice and Development Party, led by Erdogan, has shown an exceptional performance in its ability to solve the country's problems during its 20 years of rule, and Turkey has made a qualitative leap economically, politically, in terms of investment, infrastructure, roads, airports, and high-speed rail network.
And each time Erdogan gave voters more hope for change than the opposition parties
The President of Turkey, who holds the head of state and government, is directly elected through a two-session system, under which a candidate must receive an absolute majority of votes to be elected.
If no candidate conclusively secures an overall majority, a run-off is held between the two candidates most voted in the first round, and the winner is declared elected.
This electoral system was first introduced for the 2014 presidential election, when it replaced the indirect election system under which the president was elected by parliament.
The President is subject to term limits to service, and may serve two consecutive terms of up to 5 years.
However, the current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is expected to be eligible to run for a third term in 2023, given that the current executive presidential system was not fully implemented until after the end of his first term, which means that his term of office from 2014 to 2018 will not It is counted up to his second term.
Elections are around the corner
There is no disagreement among all parties about the status of democracy in Turkey and that only the people will decide who will represent them in these elections.
Since 2002, the Justice and Development Party, led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has won all the elections it has run.
In contrast, the opposition Republican People's Party was defeated in all elections.
The Justice and Development Party, led by Erdogan, has shown an exceptional performance in its ability to solve the country's problems during its 20 years of rule, and Turkey has made a qualitative leap economically, politically, in terms of investment, infrastructure, roads, airports, and high-speed rail network.
Each time, Erdogan gave voters more hope for change than the opposition parties.
At the moment, we see that it is very clear the accumulation of the opposition's failures to provide radical solutions to the country's problems.
In the first elections held following the transition to a presidential system in 2017, Erdogan won 52% of the vote in the first round of elections.
Over the past four years, the presidential system has been put to the test, and parties can form coalitions.
While the Nationalist Movement Party and the Grand Union Party allied with the ruling party under the name "The People's Alliance", the rest of the opposition parties united to form the "National Alliance" led by the Republican People's Party.
We are now monitoring the preparations of these two alliances for the upcoming elections.
Opportunities for the People's Alliance candidate "Recep Tayyip Erdogan"
The candidate of the People's Alliance has been known for a long time and is undisputed Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who will contest the electoral battle in 2023, thus Erdogan will have exercised his second and last right to run in accordance with the constitution, not to mention that he is the most likely to win the elections.
But choosing a candidate is not so easy for the nation's alliance, as there are only 16 months left for the elections, and so far this alliance has not agreed on a candidate.
In the first round of the previous elections, the leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), the strongest opposition party in Turkey, was Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, a democratic politician known for his strong opposition to Erdogan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) politics as well as opposition to the Kurds and their rights. He is also a staunch defender of Turkey's secular values and Ataturk's legacy.
Kılıçdar leads the Nation Alliance, and instead of focusing on the confrontation with Erdogan, we find that he fired Muharrem İnce, who was competing with him within the party, and he got 30% of the votes in the first round of the presidential elections.
It seems that Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu entered the electoral race knowing that he would be defeated by Erdogan, but in order not to admit this, he sacrificed one of his party members.
What happened is a reflection of the culture of intrigue on the opposition front.
And without knowing it, the opposition is destroying its chances of success with these conspiracies it is plotting against its competitors.
As for the rest of the coalition members, the chairwoman of the Good Party Meral Aksener and the head of the Peoples' Democratic Party Selahattin Demirtaş, they faced Erdogan in the elections and each received 9% of the vote.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu... the likely candidate for the opposition alliance in the 2023 elections
The Turkish opposition - in its speeches - seeks to perpetuate the idea that it will rule the country, and mobilize its movement towards the transition to a "strengthened parliamentary system", but the post-election phase raises fears and concerns for many Turkish voters, in addition to the problems and questions regarding the "expansion of the opposition coalition." And the steps that follow the elections.
Turkish writer Abdul Qadir Selvi, in an article on the Hurriyet newspaper, stated that the Turkish opposition is talking about getting rid of Erdogan, electing a new president, amending the constitution and returning the country to the parliamentary system again, and that they will solve all problems, but "there is a dilemma in the" alliance. Expanded: “Where will the opposition leaders sit when the principles are announced?”
He added, "The opposition leaders who want this have not yet determined the order in which they will sit, and Ali Babacan and Ahmet Davutoglu will come in the foreground if it is in alphabetical order, and if the arrangement is according to age, then Temel Karamolaoglu and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu will sit at the front, and whatever the arrangement is, they will return Turkey to the ancient era.
Meral Aksener supports Imamoglu's candidacy for the presidency, but Kılıçdaroğlu opposes it, and circles within the Good Party argue that if the CHP leader imposes himself as a presidential candidate, this will open the way for party leaders to be candidates, most notably Aksener.
However, a group within the Good Party supports Aksener's candidacy, and they believe that with its conservative national identity and femininity, it will be more fortunate than Kılıçdaroğlu.
He believed that the Kurdish People's Democratic Party will not join the opposition coalition, and will form a third coalition that includes leftist components.
Republican People's Party (CHP) head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is planning to take part in the presidential race against Erdogan, and he hopes to win this time.
But in order to nominate him, the coalition needs to convince its other partners.
The tension over the "presidential candidate" of the opposition alliance, which will compete with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has moved into the corridors of the Republican People's Party, and the so-called "Kemalite" movement has emerged, the followers of the party's leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, and the so-called "Akrameen" movement loyal to the mayor of Greater Istanbul, Akram. Imamoglu.
The opposition has not yet met on a joint candidate to compete with President Erdogan in the presidential race in the elections to be held on June 24, 2023, in light of the obstacles and statements made by Kılıçdaroğlu, who is trying to stay on the line of competition.
Kılıçdaroğlu, at several turns, suggested his desire to be Erdogan's rival in the presidential elections, but in front of this desire he faces objections from within his party, the Good Party and some opposition figures who believe that he will not be able to win, and are inclined to nominate Imamoglu or Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas.
Kılıçdaroğlu expresses his unwillingness to nominate Imamoglu or Yavas on the pretext of his desire to continue as mayors of Ankara and Istanbul, but differences prevail between the two people recently, according to observers.