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According to Vreeken, it is not “entirely clear” who will win the Turkish presidential election on May 14, whether incumbent President Erdogan or his 74-year-old challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu of the United Opposition. According to Vreeken, the polls don’t give a clear picture and it could go in either direction, although it seems unlikely that the parliamentary elections held at the same time will provide a majority for the ruling AK party and its coalition partner. “I think they will lose it, but the presidential election is very exciting.”
Economy
Vreeken doesn’t think that “media moments” like the elimination of an IS leader in Syria or the earthquake will give Erdogan much breathing space, but the role of the economy is much more important. “This is the main concern of the Turks,” says Vreeken. In recent years, the lira has dropped in value in a spectacular way and inflation has risen to unprecedented levels (inflation even briefly touched 80 percent, ed), the Turkish population has noticed it in their wallets. It was already clear that the economy was, and still is, the Achilles heel of the Erdogan government. This will be the important point.’
‘Economy. This will be the important point
A recent poll showed that 70% of respondents think the economy is the most important issue in elections. “Everyone’s talking about that too.” Surprisingly, according to Vreeken, a bad economy does not mean that people will turn away from Erdogan en masse: “The government is not necessarily responsible when things go wrong.”
Powerful block
Erdogan faces a united opposition, a coalition of six parties. Vreeken calls it a “powerful bloc” that has a very serious chance of seizing power. “It’s a powerful bloc in the sense that they work together, which hasn’t happened in Turkish politics for the past 20 years.” That coalition will be able to bind different groups of voters together, although Vreeken stresses that the coalition will still need the support of the HDP, the pro-Kurdish party which accounts for 13 to 16 percent of the vote.
“The presidential elections are going to be very exciting.”
But that party is only one of the decisive factors that will determine the outcome of the election. According to Vreeken, there are several decisive factors such as young people, floating voters and less loyal voters of the AKP (the AKP is Erdogan’s party, ed).
Another important factor is the image of challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Kilicdaroglu is originally a civil servant, which is exactly the impression he makes: a faded appearance without too much charisma. So colorless that even within the Table of Six (the opposition coalition, ed.) there was resistance to his nomination. It doesn’t matter that, according to Vreeken, man is a good administrator and is able to bring people together.
Fight
Several voters came to blows Sunday afternoon on RAI in Amsterdam South, confirmed a Turkish embassy spokesman after reporting Het Parool. Since last weekend, Dutch Turks have been able to vote in the event hall for presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey.
According to the spokesman, there was disagreement among some voters. What exactly is not known. The pictures show how several men fight with each other. Bystanders and security guards try to separate the squabbling and calm things down. The spokesperson says no further steps will be taken after the fight. No one was injured and no one was arrested, the embassy said.