Turkey votes in crucial elections that might bring Erdogan’s 20-year tenure to an end

ISTANBUL, May 14 (Reuters) 

On Sunday, Turks voted in one of the most consequential elections in modern Turkey’s 100-year history, one that may either oust President Tayyip Erdogan and halt his government’s increasingly authoritarian path, or bring in a third decade of his leadership.

The election will determine not only who governs Turkey, a NATO member with 85 million people, but also how it is governed, where its economy is heading amid a serious cost-of-living crisis, and the form of its foreign policy, which has taken unexpected turns.

Opinion surveys give Erdogan’s biggest competitor, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who leads a coalition of six opposition parties, a tiny lead, but if neither of them receives more than 50% of the vote, a runoff election will be held on May 28.

Voters will also choose a new parliament, with the People’s Alliance, which includes Erdogan’s conservative Islamist-rooted AK Party (AKP), the nationalist MHP, and others, and Kilicdaroglu’s Nation Alliance, which includes his secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP), founded by Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Polls started at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) and will conclude at 5 p.m. (1400 GMT). According to Turkish legislation, disclosing any results is prohibited until 9 p.m. By late Sunday, it should be clear whether there will be a runoff election for the presidency.

Some people in Diyarbakir, a city in Turkey’s mostly Kurdish southeast that was devastated by a terrible earthquake in February, said they voted for the opposition, while others said they voted for Erdogan.

“A change is needed for the country,” said Nuri Can, 26, who voted for Kilicdaroglu because of Turkey’s economic difficulties. “There will be another economic crisis after the election, so I wanted a change.”

Hayati Arslan, 51, on the other hand, stated he voted for Erdogan and his AK Party.

“The country’s economic situation is dire, but I remain optimistic that Erdogan will turn things around.” Erdogan stated, “Turkey’s international prestige has reached a very high level, and I want this to continue.”

Queues formed at city voting booths, with 9,000 police officers on duty across the province.

Many individuals in the regions devastated by the earthquake, which killed over 50,000 people, have voiced dissatisfaction with the government’s poor first reaction, but there is no indication that the issue has influenced how people would vote.

Kurdish voters, who make up 15-20% of the population, will be crucial, as the Nation Alliance is unlikely to secure a legislative majority on its own.

The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) is not a member of the major opposition alliance, but it has been vocal in its criticism to Erdogan following a crackdown on its members in recent years.

The HDP has endorsed Kilicdaroglu in the presidential election. Due to a court action brought by a senior prosecutor aiming to outlaw the HDP over connections to Kurdish terrorists, which the party denies, it is running in the parliamentary elections under the banner of the minuscule Green Left Party.

Writing by Alexandra Hudson

Editing by Frances Kerry