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Turkish Presidential Election of 2023

The Turkish presidential election of 2023 took place on May 14 and May 28 to determine the President of Turkey for a new five-year term. The election cycle began with the announcement by the Supreme Election Council that the official start date had been set, followed by the submission of candidacy applications to the council.

In total, there were two minor candidates who reached the required 100,000 signatures to stand: Homeland Party leader Muharrem İnce and anti-immigration ultranationalist Ancestral Alliance nominee Sinan Oğan. However, before the election, İnce withdrew from the contest due to consistent slander and smear campaigns against him by rival candidates.

The main campaign issues centered around the deadly February 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake, which left over 50,000 people killed and threatened to postpone the elections. The issue dominated the debate, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's opponents criticizing his handling of the disaster.

On election day, May 14, Erdogan faced opposition from Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, a member of the Republican People's Party (CHP), who responded to Arınç's statement that the constitution would not provide for a possibility to postpone the elections except in case of war. The Supreme Election Council announced the official start of the election cycle on March 18.

The first round saw no candidate receive more than 50% +1 of the votes, prompting a second round on May 28. In this final round, Erdogan secured re-election for a new five-year term until 2028, marking his eleventh presidential victory since being elected as Walikota Istanbul in 1994.

The election was accompanied by parliamentary elections to choose members of parliament for Turkey's 25th parliament. According to reports, there were 64,190,651 voters in total, with 60.9 million in Turkey and 3.2 million abroad.

Erdogan's re-election marked a significant shift towards an increasingly presidential system of government, as the country transitioned from a parliamentary republic to one dominated by the president. This change was first introduced through the constitutional amendment referendum of 2017, which was narrowly approved by voters in June 24, 2018. The outcome of this referendum led to the adoption of a new electoral law for the 2023 general elections.

The Turkish presidential election of 2023 demonstrated Erdogan's continued dominance over Turkish politics, as he