Turkey’s Future Hangs in the Balance as Voters Head to the Polls

Polls open in Turkey on Sunday in one of the most pivotal, tightly contested parliamentary and presidential elections in modern Turkey’s 100-year history.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan faces the biggest challenge in his 20-year reign, as a strong opposition seeks to halt his government’s increasingly authoritarian path.

The vote will decide who leads Turkey, a NATO-member country of 85 million, how it is governed, where its economy is headed amid a deep cost of living crisis, and the shape of its foreign policy, which has taken unpredictable turns.

Latest opinion polls give Erdoğan’s primary challenger, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, head of the opposition alliance, a slight lead. If neither presidential candidate gets over 50% of the vote, a runoff will occur on May 28.

Six hundred members will also be elected to the Turkish parliament, the Grand National Assembly. The country’s 81 provinces are divided into 87 electoral districts. Some have been affected by massive earthquakes in southeast Turkey that killed more than 50,000 people in February.

Polls opened at 8 am local time and will close at 5 pm. Under Turkish election law, the reporting of any results is banned until 9 pm.

In his time in power, Erdoğan has taken tight control of most of Turkey’s institutions and sidelined liberals and critics. According to a 2022 report by Human Rights Watch, Erdoğan’s government has set back Turkey’s human rights record by decades.

If he wins, Kılıçdaroğlu faces challenges keeping united an opposition alliance that includes nationalists, Islamists, secularists, and liberals.