Turkish voters are going to the polls in parliamentary elections
that could end more than a decade of single-party rule by the Justice
and Development party (AKP).
Voting stations around the country opened on Sunday morning in the snap elections, which were called by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, after negotiations to form a coalition with the opposition following an inconclusive vote in June fell apart.
Now the divisive figure of Erdoğan, accused by critics of authoritarianism, repression of his opponents and suppression of press freedom, is front and centre in polls that could put an end to what his critics say are ambitions to consolidate the power of his office and transform Turkey from a parliamentary system into a president-led republic.
“We will all have to show respect to the national will,” said Erdoğan on Sunday after voting in Istanbul. “Turkey has made great strides in democracy and this stride will be strengthened with today’s election.”
A starkly different message came from Selahattin Demirtas, the leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which garnered 13% of the vote in June’s election and robbed the AKP of its majority for the first time since 2002.
“Unfortunately, it was a difficult and troubled period of election campaigning,” he said, after casting his vote. “Lives were lost. My wish is that a great hope for peace and calm emerges (from the election).”
Voting stations around the country opened on Sunday morning in the snap elections, which were called by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, after negotiations to form a coalition with the opposition following an inconclusive vote in June fell apart.
Now the divisive figure of Erdoğan, accused by critics of authoritarianism, repression of his opponents and suppression of press freedom, is front and centre in polls that could put an end to what his critics say are ambitions to consolidate the power of his office and transform Turkey from a parliamentary system into a president-led republic.
“We will all have to show respect to the national will,” said Erdoğan on Sunday after voting in Istanbul. “Turkey has made great strides in democracy and this stride will be strengthened with today’s election.”
A starkly different message came from Selahattin Demirtas, the leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which garnered 13% of the vote in June’s election and robbed the AKP of its majority for the first time since 2002.
“Unfortunately, it was a difficult and troubled period of election campaigning,” he said, after casting his vote. “Lives were lost. My wish is that a great hope for peace and calm emerges (from the election).”
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