The election’s outcome and its impact on stability in the country, which sits as a crossroads between Europe and Asia and is home to NATO’s second-largest military, is of paramount importance both domestically and internationally.
“There is so much at stake for President Erdogan and his AKP (Justice and Development Party) for the first time, as his 20-year rule over Türkiye may come to an end given the unified opposition has managed to maintain a strong alliance and stay on a hope-building positive campaign,” said Hakan Akbas, managing director of consulting firm Strategic Advisory Services based between Istanbul and Washington.
This is similar, he noted, to “what Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu did to win twice against Erdogan’s AKP candidate in the mayoral election in 2019.”
Imamoglu, a popular figure who was widely expected to run for the presidency as a formidable opponent to Erdogan, was in December sentenced to nearly three years in prison and barred from politics for what a court described as insulting the judges of the Supreme Election Council (YSK). Imamoglu and his supporters say the charges are purely political and were influenced by Erdogan and his party to sabotage his political ambitions.
