His biggest rival, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, seeks to attract the young audience, which constitutes 8% of the electorate
Two weeks remain in what promises to be the closest election for Turkey’s current President Recep Tayip Erdogan.
The current head of state has been in power for 20 years, from 2003 to 2014 as prime minister and as president ever since.
This erosion in power, added to the growing economic crisis and the earthquake that devastated the country in February, have made President Erdogan less popular.
And it is that this Sunday, the head of the conservative AKP party has started the campaign in Ankara asking God for help to end the opposition.
His biggest rival is the leader of the secular and social democratic People’s Republic Party, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who also called the masses this Sunday in Izmir, the country’s third largest city and opposition stronghold.
He enjoys great popularity among young voters between the ages of 18 and 25, who have only known Erdogan in power.
However, although this sector constitutes 8% of the electorate, surveys predict that only 1 in 5 young people will go to the polls.
As the two elections approach, Erdogan and Kiliçdaroglu, aged 69 and 74 respectively, compete with each other with promises to seduce generation Z (abolition of taxes on the purchase of mobile phones, free Internet package, youth card, etc.). A third man, Muharrem Ince, tries to establish himself as a candidate for the youth.
Kılıçdaroğlu’s secular stance has taken its toll on him in attracting the conservative electorate. For this, it has proposed to guarantee the use of the veil; a way to attract conservative young women, historically supporters of Mr Erdogan, who has allowed veiled students to attend university.
In addition, his party has also allied with three Islamo-conservative groups. Experts describe this strategy as a message of reconciliation with the religious electorate that should have an effect.
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