Caroline Baudry (special envoy to Turkey) / Photo credit: Serkan Avci / ANADOLU AGENCY / Anadolu Agency via AFP 09:19, May 28, 2023

This Sunday is the second round of the presidential election in Turkey and outgoing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan seems to be the favorite, despite the polls in favor of his opponent. On the side of the supporters of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the time is for resignation. Europe 1 went to meet them, on the Galata Bridge in Istanbul.

In Turkey, polling stations opened this Sunday morning for the second round of the presidential election and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the favorite. Yet trailing in the polls, weakened by the economic situation and the earthquake of February, the outgoing head of state finally beat his main opponent by almost five points in the first round of the presidential election. So much so that in Istanbul, the supporters of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu no longer believe too much in victory. Europe 1 went to the famous Galata Bridge.

"We will have to monitor the ballot boxes"

"Today, I only half believe it." A young man throws his line away to kill time, the view of the horizon and the setting sun over the hills and mosques. Fish wriggle in a tank at his feet. He is calm and already talks about his candidate in the past tense. "It would have been advantageous for me as a Kurd if Kılıçdaroğlu had been elected, especially to release political prisoners," he said. "That first round was a shock. And I also know that in Turkey, there is fraud during the votes. We will have to monitor the ballot boxes."

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Along the blue barrier that separates it from the Bosphorus, four young people sit among the groups of fishermen. They open a few beers to music, resigned. "We won the elections in all the big cities: Istanbul, Izmir, Antalya. But we have not managed to convince the countryside and the east of the country," said one young woman. "All TV channels are controlled by Erdoğan, this is the main reason for our failure. He's been in power for 20 years, he'll hang on."

She explains that the song they are listening to is political against the Islamo-conservative Erdoğan. A hymn to love, encounters and dialogue of which the president, "if elected, will deprive us for the next few years".