dpa
Istanbul
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP launched its campaign on Tuesday ahead of simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14. Opposition parties have already launched their campaigns which is being held in the shadow of a devastating earthquakes in February. After 20 years at the top of Turkish politics, initially as prime minister and subsequently as president, Erdogan, 69, faces a difficult campaign.
Alongside allegations of poor crisis management following the quake, the country has seen annual inflation of around 50%. Among three presidential challengers, the head of the centre-left CHP, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, 74, has the best prospects. Kiliçdaroglu heads an alliance of six parties. The pro-Kurdish HDP, which has the backing of around 10% of the electorate, has not put up a candidate. This is seen as indirect support for Kiliçdaroglu. If no candidate secures more than 50% of the vote in the first round of the presidential elections, there will be a run-off a fortnight later on May 28.
Later in the day, Erdogan unveiled plans to boost spending to rally his voter base. This includes tax cuts, salary hikes, energy subsidies, and more government jobs. At campaign launch in Ankara, he also pledged to build a bullet train line and improve "mega projects” in defence of construction. Erdogan also pledged to cut inflation to single digits and boost economic growth.
The promises come amid a record-high cost of living and Turkey’s economic troubles in two decades. Erdogan’s manifesto is "fantasy” and "not very credible,” economist Timothy Ash wrote on Twitter. Ash said it underlined such structural weaknesses as a high current account deficit and weak lira. Apart from Erdogan and Kiliçdaroglu, two more hopefuls are in the race but have a weak chance. Some analysts believe that Kiliçdaroglu can expect potential support of the opposition bloc - a combination of Islamists, Kurds and nationalists.
If elected, Kiliçdaroglu pledges to ease the economic pains with a large cash inflow from foreign investors. Around 60.9 million people can vote in Turkey, and3.3 million diaspora mainly in Germany can cast their ballots from April 27.