As politicians campaigned for the last time on Saturday, polls predict a heavy defeat for ruling coalition parties and a win for the AKP, an untried party suspected by some of “Islamist leanings” — a result that could spark further political tensions in the NATO member.
Also facing moves to ban his party, AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to bolster economic growth and speed up democratic reform as Turkey chases membership talks with the European Union. He rejects the “Islamist” label but is still viewed with suspicion by the secular establishment.
“We are about to hold an election whose results are obvious in advance for the first time,” Erdogan said in an election broadcast. “Turkey wants justice, wants development.”
Opinion polls predict AKP will win the most seats, followed by the staunchly secular Republican People’s Party (CHP). They may be the only ones to win the 10 percent to enter parliament.
“It’s now a two-horse race. The AKP will be the only conservative party, the others will fall under the threshold,” Erdogan was quoted by daily Radikal as saying on Saturday.
However, opinion polls are unreliable in Turkey and at least three more parties — the conservative True Path Party (DYP), the far-right Youth Party (GP) and the pro-Kurdish Democratic People’s Party (DEHAP) — appear close to 10 percent.
In a latest legal move against the AKP, prosecutors have sought an injunction against Erdogan as well as a ban on AKP.
The ex-Istanbul mayor is already barred from standing in the election because of a previous conviction for inciting hatred by reading a religious poem. He cannot be prime minister but he has remained the party leader and spearheaded the campaign.
Leader Deniz Baykal said on Saturday question marks over Erdogan’s position might spark further political uncertainty.
“The leader of this political party (AKP) cannot be an MP, prime minister or a minister. This unusual situation could open the way to discussions about the future of the regime in this country,” Baykal told reporters at an Ankara news conference.—Reuters