Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was re-elected for a new term.
His supporters celebrated his victory all Sunday night, however, as of the next day he will face the difficult task of uniting his country, which is experiencing divisions and a deep economic crisis.
Erdoğan won 52.2% of the vote after all ballot were counted, compared to 47.8% for his rival, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
This unprecedented second round didn’t attract as many voters as the first round.
Although participation in it remains high, it declined by three points at the national level, reaching 85%.
The rate of mobilization in the provinces located in the southeast of the country, which are predominantly Kurdish, such as Diyarbakir, and voted heavily in favor of the opposition, was significantly declining, with five or six points less than the turnout in the first session on May 14, as it appears as a result of the alliance between Kılıçdaroğlu in the intersessional period with ultra-nationalist organization.
For his part, Erdoğan was able to rely on his conservative base and the supporters of his ally, the hardline Nationalist Movement Party.
The president also allied this year with several small Islamic organizations, including the Kurdish party Huda-Bar, which brought four deputies under the banner of the Justice and Development Party headed by Erdoğan.
The inauguration ceremony of the president is expected to take place on Friday in Ankara, following an expected ceremony in parliament on Thursday.
Among his priorities, Erdoğan will have to revive the economy and confront inflation with the aim of improving the purchasing power of the people, especially if Erdoğan and the Justice and Development Party want to win next March the municipalities of Istanbul and Ankara, among other municipalities, which moved to the opposition camp in 2019.
The Turkish president, who forced the central bank to pump billions of dollars to float the Turkish lira before the elections, will also have to finance the increase in public sector salaries and pensions that he promised during the campaign.
In front of the tens of thousands of people who joined him at night in front of the presidential palace in Ankara to celebrate, the president promised a rapid reduction of the inflation rate, which remains above 40% over a year.
“There is no problem that we cannot solve when the bond is so strong between us,” he said.
For its part, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which sent observers to ensure the proper conduct of the vote, on Monday condemned “the intimidation and harassment of supporters of some opposition parties” and denounced “the inflammatory and discriminatory statements used by the two sides with mutual accusations of cooperation with terrorist organizations”.
The Council of Europe also said in a statement on Monday that the second round of the presidential elections in Türkiye characterized by increasingly inflammatory language and restrictions on freedom of expression.
On the other hand, it’s expected that a phone call will take place between US President Joe Biden and Erdoğan in the evening, as announced by the special advisor to Turkish President Ibrahim Kalin.
The Russian President Vladimir Putin warmly congratulated Erdoğan on his re-election, during a phone call between them, during which he considered that this victory opens prospects for strengthening bilateral relations.
“The support expressed by the Turkish people for his president opens additional prospects for the development of practical bilateral cooperation in various fields,” Putin said during the call, according to a statement from the Kremlin.
Erdoğan spoke on Monday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who announced in a statement that he had invited him to Berlin and that he wanted to give cooperation between the two governments a new impetus and understanding about common priorities.
Kalin said that other calls expected with European leaders later, including French President Emmanuel Macron.
For his part, the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is from the Republican People’s Party, who snatched this position in the economic capital of Türkiye from the Justice and Development Party in 2019, offered to gather his two supporters in his city.
“Don’t worry, everything starts from scratch,” said the mayor of Istanbul, who may be the opposition candidate for the 2028 presidential election.
