Istanbul, Turkey – As his country stands on the verge of its centenary, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has framed the next 100 years as the “Century of Turkey”.
The May 14 elections could be portrayed in similarly striking terms – either an extension of Erdogan’s two-decade rule or a government pledging a return to a parliamentary system from the current executive presidency.
The presidential and parliamentary elections are billed by many as the most important since Turkey held its first fair multi-party vote in 1950, also on May 14.
They are taking place against a background of a cost-of-living crisis that saw inflation peak at 85 percent in October and earthquakes in February that killed more than 50,000 in the country.
Erdogan, who came to power in 2003, is offering a vision of further development, promising to extend the improvements made by his Adalet ve Kalkınma Party (Justice and Development, AK Party) government.
It is the second national election under the presidential system that concentrated power in Erdogan’s hands.
Erdogan’s challenger
The main opposition challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, has pledged further democratisation and to roll back Erdogan’s “one-man rule” while addressing what he calls economic mismanagement.
“Perhaps this will be the most critical election in the history of the republic,” said Bulent Kusoglu, a deputy chairman with Kilicdaroglu’s Cumhuriyet Halk Party (Republican People’s Party, CHP).
“There is also an awakening in society. With this awakening, if we are successful in the elections, society will come to a much better point.”
AK Party parliamentarian Ravza Kavakci Kan also highlighted the importance of the vote. “This election is extra important because currently, we are at a pace where a lot of very good projects are being brought to the public.”
“For the continuation of those projects and to offer new projects, especially to the youth, we are working day and night to find solutions to the newer challenges that may come up. So this is a very important election from that perspective.”
Opposition presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu at a rally in Bursa, Turkey May 11, 2023 [Murad Sezer/Reuters]
Erdogan behind in the polls
The most recent polls show Kilicdaroglu leading Erdogan in the presidential race, which will be rerun in two weeks if none of the three candidates passed the 50-percent threshold. In the parliamentary election, however, the AK Party is predicted to be the largest party in the Grand National Assembly.
The withdrawal of a fourth presidential candidate – the Homeland Party’s Muharrem Ince – on Thursday is expected to translate into more votes for Kilicdaroglu.
Some 192,000 ballot boxes across 87 electoral districts are open between 8am and 5pm (05:00 and 14:00 GMT). Each of Turkey’s 81 provinces counts as an electoral constituency apart from Izmir, Bursa, Istanbul and Ankara, which are split into two or three voting regions.
Across the country, 60.7 million people are eligible to vote. Some 1.8 million Turkish citizens living abroad have already cast their ballots in 73 countries or at border gates.
The votes will see both the president and 600 members of parliament appointed for five years. Parliamentary deputies are selected by proportional representation from party lists.
Political alliances
Political parties – 24 are contesting the elections – have generally formed alliances to stand. This allows smaller parties that fall under the 7 percent national vote threshold to enter parliament.
The AK Party has aligned with Milliyetçi Hareket Party (Nationalist Movement, MHP) and the Great Unity Party from the far-right, plus the conservative New Welfare Party, to form the Cumhur İttifakı (People’s Alliance).
Kilicdaroglu’s CHP is the largest party in the six-strong Millet İttifakı (Nation Alliance), which includes the nationalist İyi Party (Good Party), the conservative Saadet Party (Felicity Party), the centre-right Demokrat Party (Democrat Party) and two parties founded by former Erdogan ministers, the Demokrasi ve Atılım Party (Democracy and Progress, Deva Party) and the Gelecek Party (Future Party).
The pro-Kurdish Halkların Demokratik Party (People’s Democratic Party, HDP), which is fielding candidates under the banner of the Yeşil Sol Party (Green Left Party, YSP) due to a court case that threatens its closure, is the main party in the Labour and Freedom Alliance with the Türkiye İşçi Party (Turkey Workers’ Party, TIP) and several smaller left-wing groups. It has endorsed Kilicdaroglu’s candidacy.
Two other alliances – the right-wing Ata Alliance and the Socialist Union of Forces – are also fielding candidates.
Supporters of Kemal Kilicdaroglu, presidential candidate of Turkey’s main opposition alliance, cheer during a rally ahead of the May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections, in Tekirdag, Turkey, April 27, 2023 [Murad Sezer/Reuters]
The voting process
Voters entering the polling booths will have two ballot papers and select either Erdogan, Kilicdaroglu or Sinan Ogan, who represents the Ata Alliance, for the presidency; they pick a political party on a separate ballot for parliament.
Both ballots are placed in the same envelope before being deposited in a ballot box. Votes are counted at polling stations at the end of the day, and a report is sent to the local office of the High Election Board (YSK). Presidential votes are tallied first, and there should be a clear indication of the leadership outcome by late Sunday.
The election process is closely monitored by volunteers, such as those from volunteer group Oy ve Otesi (Vote and Beyond), as well as party representatives, and turnout is usually high – 87 percent was reported in 2018.
Official observers keep a copy of the ballot report from their polling station, and party workers forward these, allowing political parties to maintain their own tally of the nationwide vote. The CHP says it has recruited nearly 564,000 volunteers to monitor the polls.
In the 11 provinces affected by February’s deadly earthquakes, the election council has set up polling stations around temporary shelters for survivors. However, it remains unclear how many of the hundreds of thousands of voters who left the earthquake zone will return for the elections.
The United Nations estimated some three million left the disaster area in the weeks after the quakes struck, mostly for other parts of Turkey. The election council says just 133,000 voters from the earthquake region have transferred their votes to new addresses.
“There are many unknowns that will only become apparent on election day,” said Berk Esen, assistant professor in political science at Istanbul’s Sabanci University.
“We don’t have hard data on how many left the earthquake zone. If they didn’t register in their new residences, they need to physically come back to the earthquake zone on election day and that’s not really a realistic possibility.”
Amid concerns that the AK Party could challenge an opposition victory, Erdogan on Thursday pledged to do “as democracy requires”.
“I believe in my nation and those who do not respect the result of the ballot box have no respect for the nation either,” he said during a TV interview. He also suggested changing the current threshold for the presidential race from over 50 percent.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
