[Vanasalus]

Turkish people will go to polling stations on Sunday to vote for the dual election of the president and the members of the parliament.

Two months ago, when Erdogan called the snap elections, he was expecting an easy electoral victory.

Today, a day before the election, Erdogan's prospects look much complicated than ever thanks to several smart and decisive moves of the opposition.

There are 8 political parties competing for the parliamentary seats and 6 candidates for the presidency



Ak Party - Conservative, Islamist (Part of People's Alliance)
MHP - Nationalist (Part of People's Alliance)
HudaPar - Kurdish, Islamist
Vatan - Idiots
HDP - Kurdish, social democrat
CHP - Social Democrat, Secular (Part of Nation's Alliance)
Saadet - Conservative, Islamist (Part of Nation's Alliance)
Iyi Party - Conservative, nationalist, secular (Part of Nation's Alliance)



Muharrem Ince - candidate of CHP
Meral Aksener - candidate of Iyi Party
Recep Tayyip Erdogan - joint candidate of AKP and MHP
Selahattin Demirtas - candidate of HDP
Temel Karamollaoglu - candidate of Saadet
Dogu Perincek - candidate of Vatan

According to constitution, if a presidential candidate cannot gather more than 50% of the votes in tomorrow's election, top two candidates will compete in the second round of the elections which will be held on July 8th.

Though the survey poll results are staggeringly different (polling companies in Turkey are notoriously untrustworthy), common expectation is no presidential candidate will achieve more than 50% of the votes tomorrow.

Most probable 2nd round contenders are Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Muharrem Ince.

Here are a number of links (political ads, rallies, etc) for you to capture a glimpse of Turkish election's spirit.

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[Igor Antunov]

Erdogan is dug in like an Alabama bush tick. He ain't gonna lose, whatever the result. He gutted the military industrial complex and filled it with his super best friends. They will do his bidding.

[Vanasalus]

@Igor Antunov

Apart from small scale irregularities in distant countryside, electoral fraud does not happen in Turkey.

Not because of Erdogan's honesty... which he is not.

But because of the way we cast and count our votes....

56 million people eligible to vote in 180 thousand polling stations. Each administered collectively by the political party representatives as well as three representatives employed by the High Electoral Commission.

No digital voting... Everything is on paper.

Though it's an ancient and inefficient system, it is quite solid.

[Vanasalus]

While waiting let me mention about our weird and sometimes funny election day regulations & bans.

It is illegal to be drunk in election day.

All restaurants/bars/pubs serving alcohol, all shops selling alcohol must remain closed until midnight.

All public entertainment places (theaters, movie theaters, etc) must remain closed until 6:00 PM.

All coffeehouses, cafes, teahouses must remain closed until 6:00 PM.

It is illegal to carry any arms (guns, knives, etc.)

It is illegal to get married until 6:00 pm. Weddings after 6:00 pm is OK, but alcohol cannot be served in wedding parties until midnight.

TVs and radios cannot broadcast election results until High Electoral Commission lift the ban. (Generally at 6:00 pm, 1 hour after the end of the polling. Of course, nobody gives a fuck in social media)

[Rugoz]

Last year's referendum was almost certainly manipulated and this election will be too. The opposition can document the violations but Erdogan controls the election commission. Kudos though to the opposition for making a last stand.

[Beren]

Does anyone really expect Erdogan to lose? Many believed Orban could lose in April...

[Beren]

Orban Pasha was really quick to congratulate.


Wtf?

[Vanasalus]

Well, he did it again!



The votes of Erdogan's party (AKP) decreased by 7 points compared to the last general election, and lost the parliamentary majority. (AKP = 42%, 293 seats of total 600)

But Erdogan's ally nationalist MHP preserved its votes. Everybody was expecting MHP would get %4-5 support at most. They achieved %11, and 49 MPs.

Many people was guessing few MHP supporters would cast their votes for Erdogan in the presidential race. (Because of former hostilities....) Nope. Most of them did so.

Kurdish HDP is in the parliament with 67 MPs.

Newly formed IYI Party too, with 44 MPs

CHP remains to be the main opposition party yet again, with 147 MPs.

I feel very tired of non-stop watching news for 8 hours.

Cheers.

[Heisenberg]

I am shocked that the guy who famously said "Democracy is like a train: when you reach your destination, you get off" is now, for all intents and purposes, a dictator.

[Rugoz]

The opposition accepted the result, looks like Erdowahn wasn't cheating too much. The Turks get what they deserve I guess.

[Deutschmania]

Conceding defeat, Ince warned that constitutional changes ushered in by Erdogan earlier in the year represented a threat to the country's democracy.

"A single person is becoming the head of the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary and this is a concern for a threat to the survival of the country," he told journalists. "Turkey has departed from democratic values and Turkey has broken its ties with the parliamentary system which it had."

"We're now in a one-man rule -- there's no mechanism to prevent arbitrary rule. We continue to have great concerns about this situation."

- https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/24/europe/turkish-election-results-intl/index.html