2023 Turkish presidential election

2023 Turkish presidential election

← 2018 14 May 2023 (first round) 28 May 2023 (second round) 2028 →
Opinion polls
Turnout	87.04% (first round) 0.80pp 84.15% (second round) 2.89 pp
Candidate Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu Party AK Party CHP Alliance People's Alliance Nation Alliance Popular vote 27,834,589 25,504,704 Percentage 52.18% 47.82%
First round results by province Second round results by province
President before election Recep Tayyip Erdoğan AK Party Elected President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan AK Party

Presidential elections were held in Turkey in May 2023, alongside parliamentary elections, to elect a president for a term of five years.^[1] Dubbed the most important election of 2023,^[2][3] the presidential election went to a run-off for the first time in Turkish history.^[4] The election had originally been scheduled to take place on 18 June, but the government moved them forward by a month to avoid coinciding with the university exams, the Hajj pilgrimage and the start of the summer holidays.^[5] It is estimated that a total of 64 million voters had the right to cast their votes in elections, 60.9 million in Turkey and 3.2 million abroad.^[6]

Incumbent president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) ran for re-election as the joint candidate of the People's Alliance, which includes the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and two other smaller parties. The Nation Alliance, composed of six opposition parties including the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), fielded CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as its presidential candidate. Though not part of the alliance, the pro-Kurdish Party of Greens and the Left Future (YSGP) and the Labour and Freedom Alliance (of which it is a member) endorsed Kılıçdaroğlu.^[7] Two other minor candidates, namely Homeland Party leader Muharrem İnce and anti-immigration ultranationalist Ancestral Alliance nominee Sinan Oğan, also reached the required 100,000 signatures to stand; however, three days before the election, İnce withdrew from the election citing consistent slander and smear campaigns against him by rival candidates, though he still appeared on ballots.^[8]

The main campaign issues revolved around the deadly February 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake, which left over 50,000 people dead and threatened to postpone the election date.^[9][10] The government was criticised^{[by whom?]} for its slow response to the earthquake and land amnesties prior to it that critics claimed left buildings more vulnerable.^[11] The economy also featured prominently due to the rapidly rising cost of living. In most polls, voters identified the economy as their prime area of concern.^[12]

In the first round Erdoğan and Oğan outperformed expectations to receive 49.5% and 5.2% of the vote respectively, while Kılıçdaroğlu received 44.9% and Muharrem İnce (who remained on the ballot despite withdrawing) 0.4%. As Erdoğan's vote share was 0.5% short of winning outright, he and Kılıçdaroğlu contested a run-off vote on 28 May. Oğan endorsed Erdoğan, while the elements of Ancestral Alliance split their support, as Victory Party leader Ümit Özdağ endorsed Kılıçdaroğlu and My Country Party leader Neşet Doğan endorsed Erdoğan.^[13][14] Erdoğan would be re-elected to a third term with 52.2% of the vote in the runoff.

This was incumbent President's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's eleventh election victory in a row going back to his election as Mayor of Istanbul in 1994. His victory was seen as a continuation of his nearly three-decades dominance over Turkish politics. In contrast, following Kılıçdaroğlu's narrow defeat, he was voted out as the leader of the CHP in November.^[15][16][17]