Take Two: Turkey’s Election Circus Gets Even Crazier

The political situation in Turkey has become increasingly complicated following the presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14. As no candidate secured an outright win, the presidency is up for grabs with a critical second round of polling to be held on May 28. The issues at the forefront of political discourse include faith in the fairness of the election, Turkish citizenship granted to Gulf Cooperation Council nationals in exchange for top-dollar real estate purchases, and the differing numbers of refugees residing in the country. These highly polarizing issues have triggered realignments within the two main alliances contesting the presidency. Furthermore, since the replacement of parliamentary democracy in Turkey with a presidential system that recognises unsealed ballots as valid, electoral irregularities have become a recurrent concern. In spite of this, the presidential contest has taken centre stage as the sole, focal political point of interest, with last-minute shifts and tweaks in the alliances between the leading coalitions the focus of media coverage.



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