Turkey Election: Parties, candidates and numbers

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‍Turkey will vote in presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday. These elections will see millions of Turkish voters, for the first time, voting simultaneously for their preferred presidential candidate and lawmakers by putting two ballot papers in a single envelope.

About 56.3 million Turks are eligible to vote in these elections, including about three million residing abroad. Nearly 181,000 ballot boxes will be used.

The simultaneous elections are part of constitutional reforms that were announced in April 2017 through a referendum backed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The number of lawmakers in the Turkish parliament has been increased to 600 from the previous 550 as per these reforms.

Last year’s constitutional amendments also expanded the powers of the Turkish president, most of which will come into effect after these elections.

A total of six candidates are running for the presidency. If no candidate obtains over 50 percent of the votes in the first round on Sunday, a second round will take place on July 8.

Lawmakers are chosen in only one round from lists prepared for each of Turkey's 81 provinces. The seats are allocated in proportion to the number of votes the lawmaker candidate receives. In order to favor stable majorities, only the parties which obtain at least 10 percent of the vote at a national level participate in this distribution.

Two political alliances have been formed ahead of the parliamentary polls in accordance with the constitutional reforms which allowed for such pre-poll arrangements for the first time.

The first is the People's Alliance of Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the nationalist Great Unity Party (BBP).

The second is the National Alliance comprising the main opposition secular Republican People’s Party (CHP), the right-wing Good Party, the conservative Felicity Party and the center-right Democrat Party.

The pro-Kurdish HDP, Kurdish Islamist Huda-Par and the Patriotic Party will contest individually.

Erdogan faces tough contest

Supporters of Muharrem Ince, presidential candidate of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), wave flags during an election rally in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 10, 2018. /VCG Photo

These elections are being described as the biggest challenge to Erdogan’s 15-year hold on Turkey in the backdrop of a galvanized opposition and an increasingly frail economy.

The vote is being held nearly two years after the failed coup attempt aimed at ousting Erdogan from power, which has been described by analysts as a watershed moment in Turkey’s modern history. The coup bid led Ankara to launch the biggest purge of recent times under a state of emergency that remains in place with over 55,000 people detained. The crackdown has sparked major tensions with Ankara's Western allies.

While the Turkish strongman has won successive elections since his AKP party came to power in 2002 and is favorite to win again, analysts predict a tough contest from Erdogan’s main presidential rival, CHP’s Muharrem Ince.

Ince, like Erdogan, is a fiery orator and has challenged the incumbent on his own terms during the campaign.

While Erdogan will be aiming for a smashing first round victory and a clear parliamentary majority for AKP as a confirmation of his undisputed mass popularity and hold among the Turkish people, many analysts believe Ince can force a second round on July 8. Some have even predicted AKP losing its parliamentary majority amid an unprecedented alliance between four opposition parties.

To add to Erdogan’s woes, most opinion polls hint at the president falling short of 50 percent in the first round to achieve a clear victory. The opposition would no doubt be keen on forcing a run-off.

The president and his challengers

Six candidates are in the running for the Turkish presidency. Here are brief profiles of all the candidates running for Turkey’s top job.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan (AKP)

Turkey's strongman Erdogan became the country's first directly elected president in August 2014 after serving as prime minister since 2003.

The former semi-professional footballer served as the mayor of Istanbul from 1994 and was credited for dramatically improving the megacity's transport and refuse problems.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, with his wife Emine Erdogan, greet supporters at an electoral meeting of his ruling AKP party in Ankara, Turkey, May 24, 2018. /VCG Photo

But his term as mayor was cut short after he was convicted for reading a poem deemed Islamist and imprisoned for four months in 1999.

Law changes allowed him, despite the conviction, to become prime minister in 2003 after the AKP broke the mould of secular-dominated Turkish politics.

Erdogan has since transformed Turkey by allowing religion to play a greater role in public life, spearheading major infrastructure projects and pushing a more assertive stance on the international stage.

Muharrem Ince (CHP)

Presidential candidate of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Muharrem Ince releases doves during an election campaign rally in Aydin, June 5, 2018. /VCG Photo

With rhetorical skills to rival Erdogan, Ince has rapidly emerged as the main challenger to the president.

He has served as a – famously raucous – lawmaker for his home city in northwestern Turkey, Yalova, for 16 years. The former physics teacher twice unsuccessfully ran against CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu but the CHP boss backed his candidacy.

Ince, popular among CHP members, has energised the party's base as he criss-crossed the country. But he has also sought to broaden its traditional support to leftists and also Kurds.

He is the author of four books, including a book of poetry.

Meral Aksener (Good Party)

Meral Aksener, leader and presidential candidate of the Turkish opposition party 'Good Party' waves to the crowd at an election campaign rally, in Ankara, May 14, 2018. /VCG Photo

Aksener, the only female candidate in the race, served as interior minister between 1996 and 1997 and later as deputy parliament speaker. She was a close aide to Turkey's first and only female prime minister, Tansu Ciller.

Aksener later joined the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) but was dismissed from the MHP in 2016 after trying to oust the leader, Devlet Bahceli, who has since formed an alliance with the AKP.

Aksener then in October 2017 launched Iyi (Good) Party with former MHP members. The party shook up Turkey's nationalist scene although her profile has been eclipsed by Ince.

Selahattin Demirtas (HDP)

Supporters of Turkey's main pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) hold masks of their jailed former leader and presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas during a rally in Ankara, Turkey, June 19, 2018. /VCG Photo

Demirtas, a Kurd, has the unwanted status of being Turkey's first and only jailed presidential candidate running for office.

The former human rights lawyer turned lawmaker and ex co-leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) ran against Erdogan in 2014 polls, winning nearly 10 percent of the vote.

It was during that campaign the charismatic politician was dubbed a "Kurdish Obama" by the Western media after the former US president.

But he was jailed along with 11 other HDP MPs in November 2016 over alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies. He denies the charges.

Temel Karamollaoglu (Felicity Party)

People walk by an electoral campaign bus showing the candidate of the conservative Saadet (Felicity) Party, Temel Karamollaoglu, in Istanbul, June 19, 2018. /VCG Photo

Karamollaoglu, educated at Manchester University, has led the Felicity (Saadet in Turkish) Party since October 2016.

The veteran politician worked closely with the former Islamist premier and Felicity founder Necmettin Erbakan – who was also a mentor to Erdogan.

He was an MP for the Islamist Welfare ("Refah") Party – which Erdogan was also a member of – until it was shut down by the authorities. But Erdogan and his cohorts then went to form the AKP, leaving Saadet as the rump of Erbakan's movement.

Dogu Perincek (Patriotic Party)

Leader of the Turkish Vatan (Patriotic) left-wing party Dogu Perincek (right) waves to supporters during an election rally in Ankara, May 19, 2017. /VCG Photo

Perincek is an eccentric veteran of Turkish politics. His left-wing nationalist Patriotic ("Vatan" in Turkish) Party, formerly known as the Workers' Party, was set up in 1992 before the name change in 2015.

He has been jailed multiple times, including after the 1980 military coup and over the shadowy Ergenekon plot which allegedly wanted to topple the AKP government. Scores of such convictions were later overturned.

He is regarded as the most marginal of the candidates.

(With input from AFP and agencies)

[Cover Photo: Two young women attend a presidential campaign at a pro-Erdogan supporters' kiosk in Istanbul, June 19, 2018. /VCG Photo]

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