On 14 May 2023, Turkey will elect a new president and parliament. According to the Supreme Election Board, more than 60 million people are eligible to vote in Turkey and over 3 million abroad.
The head of the Turkish Supreme Election Board (YSK), Ahmet Yener, announced on Monday that 60,697,843 million people are eligible to vote in the parliamentary and presidential elections in Turkey on May 14.
30,710,790 of those eligible to vote are women, making up 50.60 per cent of the total. On the other hand, 3,416,098 people will go to the ballots abroad.
Many people in the country are calling the upcoming vote a fateful election between autocracy and democracy, the outcome of which will have a significant impact on the political situation in the entire region and beyond for years to come. The presidential election is expected to be a neck-and-neck race between incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (AKP) and his main rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (CHP). The voters of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which is contesting the elections under the umbrella of the Green Left Party (YSP), have a key role to play, as they are considered kingmakers.
Young people in particular are likely to play an important role in the elections this time. Around five million first-time voters in Turkey will be called upon to cast their ballots, said Yener.
In the meantime, the YSK will announce details of the elections in the provinces affected by the earthquakes at a later date. Two major earthquakes with the epicentre in North Kurdistan shook the south-east of the country on 6 February. According to official data, more than 50,000 people died and millions are homeless. Of the 3.7 million people who left the region as a result of the earthquakes, only about 133,000 have registered to vote in other provinces, according to Yener.
