Turkey: an opponent of Erdogan withdraws three days before the presidential election
Muharrem Ince of Turkey's opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) was defeated by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the 2018 elections. AFP/File
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Three days before the presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey, one of the three candidates who were to face Recep Tayyip Erdogan this Sunday, May 14 has just announced that he was withdrawing from the race. Muharrem Ince had been accused for several weeks of dispersing opposition votes.
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With our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer
This is bad news for Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But good news for his main rival, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, who has taken the lead of a broad alliance of opposition parties. Muharrem Ince is a dissident of this alliance and his supporters are likely to turn to Mr. Kiliçdaroglu.
He was soundly defeated by Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the last presidential election in 2018 and was accused of dispersing opposition votes and diminishing Kemal Kiliçdaroglu's chances of victory in a single round. Its abandonment therefore increases, in theory, the chances of seeing the opposition win on Sunday.
>> READ ALSO: Erdogan plays the energy card shortly before the election
No call to vote
In announcing that he was withdrawing from the race, Muharrem Ince did not call for a vote for Kemal Kiliçdaroglu. He cited smear campaigns against him, video montages falsely accusing him of adultery. And not only does he not give voting instructions, but he explains that with his withdrawal, when the opposition has lost the election, it will not be able to use him as a pretext.
The question now is to what extent Muharrem Ince's supporters will postpone their vote to Kemal Kiliçdaroglu on Sunday. A poll by Konda, one of the most famous, credited him this morning with 49.3% of the vote, against 43.7% for Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Muharrem Ince received 2.2% of the vote. A final candidate, the ultranationalist Sinan Ogan, was credited with just under 5%.
>> READ ALSO: Erdogan losing ground in his electoral strongholds
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- Turkey
- Recep Tayyip Erdogan