Turkey passes the cusp of elections What's Next?
2023-06-01255 view
Turkey ended the run-off in the presidential elections with the victory of the candidate of the People's Alliance Recep Tayyip Erdogan after receiving 52.18%, adding this achievement to the coalition itself that won the majority of parliamentary seats on May 14, 2023.
These elections are one of the most important electoral rounds in the history of contemporary Turkey, if not the most important, as they coincide with the centenary of the founding of the Turkish Republic, and formed a major polarization between the public alliance and the opposition nation alliance on the identity of the political system in its parliamentary or presidential form.
The election showed a majority of voters favoring stability over an uncertain change in domestic and foreign policy outcomes.
With the end of the competition, urgent issues arise that will be a priority for the audience alliance, and the following important files can be identified:
1- Economic and financial reform, addressing inflation and working to reduce its high levels, which reached 70.20% by the end of 2022, and recorded an additional increase of 12.50% by March 2023.
2-Preparing for municipal elections with the aim of regaining control over the major municipalities, specifically Istanbul and Ankara, due to the economic and political importance of these two municipalities, and this readiness will include improving the economic reality as much as possible, and focusing on dismantling the six-party table by opening negotiation channels with some of its components such as the Progress and Democracy Party, and trying to neutralize the Peoples' Democratic Party from supporting the Republican Peoples' Party to avoid coordination between the two parties in the Istanbul municipal elections.
3- Reconstruction of the cities hit by the earthquake of February 6, 2023, because this file represents a test of the ability of the coalition of the public to achieve, and the coalition will show an appreciation of the stricken cities whose majority voted for the coalition and its candidate Erdogan in both parliamentary and presidential elections.
4-Completing efforts to secure the border with the Syrian side and it is not necessarily required to be through extensive military operations, as security operations and political understandings can be used, allowing the establishment of safe areas that accommodate housing projects capable of facilitating the return of a segment of refugees.
In general, no changes in the foreign policy of the public alliance are expected, and it will likely continue to pursue a balanced course between Russia and the West, in addition to the use of rough force when needed to defend Turkey's security and economic interests if it feels any threat to it, especially in Syria and Libya.
