EDITOR'S NOTE.

• Author: Ataman, Muhittin
• Position: Upcoming presidential and the parliamentarian elections in Turkey

On May 14, 2023, Turkiye will hold both the presidential and the parliamentarian elections, in which the Turkish people will choose the president and all 600 members of the Turkish Parliament. This will be the second elections since the transition to the presidential system in 2017. After the first elections, held in June 2018, Recep Tayyip Erdogan was elected as the first president of the new governmental system, and AK Party received more than 42 percent of the total votes, winning almost half of the seats in parliament. As in the first elections, two major political blocs will compete, namely, the People's Alliance (Cumhur Ittifaki) and the Nation Alliance (Millet Ittifaki).

The People's Alliance bloc consists of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, AK Party) led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetci Hareket Partisi, MHP) led by Devlet Bahceli, the Great Unity Party (Buyuk Birlik Partisi, BBP) led by Mustafa Destici, the New Welfare Party (Yeniden Refah Partisi, YRP) led by Fatih Erbakan and the Free Cause Party (Hur Dava Partisi, HUDA-PAR) led by Zekeriya Yapicioglu.

The second political bloc, the Nation Alliance also known as the Table of Six (Altili Masa), is made up of six-plus-one political parties. The alliance, which was initially formed in May 2018 by four political parties, now consists of six parties, while one party supports the bloc from outside. The Republican People's Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP) led by Kemal Kilicdaroglu and the Good Party (Iyi Parti, IP) led by Meral Aksener are the two main allies. They were/are officially supported by four smaller political parties. The Democrat Party (Demokrat Parti, DP) led by Gultekin Uysal represents the center right, while the Felicity Party (Saadet Partisi, SP) led by Temel Karamollaoglu is the continuation of Necmettin Erbakan's Islamic political tradition.

The two additional political parties, the Future Party (Gelecek Partisi, GP) led by Ahmet Davutoglu and the Democracy and Progress Party (Demokrasi ve Atilim Partisi, DEVA Party) led by Ali Babacan are breakaway groups from the ruling AK Party. They have recently joined the Nation Alliance in an attempt to overthrow the ruling party, which has been in power for the last two decades.

In addition to these six political parties, the Peoples' Democratic Party (Halklarin Demokratik Partisi, HDP) led by Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar, also supports the Nation Alliance. However, it did not become an official partner of the Nation Alliance, since some partners of the alliance, most notably the IP, generally representing the secular Turkish nationalists, oppose the alliance with HDP due to its close connections with PKK. Therefore, although HDP has declared its support for the candidacy of Kemal Kilicdaroglu, it has not joined the alliance.

It has become obvious that two political alliances will dominate the election process, therefore there are effectively only two main presidential candidates...