Turkish election results leave nation divided

President Erdogan won re-election with 52.14% of votes in his favor while his opposition, Kemal Kilicdaroglu won 47.86%, according to the Turkish Supreme Election Council. This re-election extends his already 20 year rule another 5 years, the longest of any other leader in modern Turkish history, surpassing the 15 year rule of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Following the election result Erdogan spoke to his supporters outside his residence in Istanbul and said that the entire nation, all 85 mn were the “victors”. Erdogan ran for re-election on the campaign of family values and Turkish nationalism and Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s campaign while also touted nationalistic rhetoric, pledged to support LGBTQ rights and democratic values, and was backed by the pro-Kurdish party. All of which were attacked by Erdogan, saying that Kilicdaroglu had the support of terrorists and was attempting to corrupt Turkish family values through his alleged support of the LGBTQ communities.

Following the 2016 attempted coup, Erdogan had abolished the position of Prime Minister and heavily influenced parliamentary proceedings. Kilicdaroglu promised to rollback these decisions made by Erdogan as a part of his election campaign. Following this loss, the opposition party will now have to wait until next year to make an impact on local elections and hope to influence the parliament from the ground up.