Could the far-right minority tip the scales in the Turkish elections?

The far right only got 5% of the vote in the first round. And yet the voters of far-right candidate Sinan Ogan could tip the balance in the second round of the Turkish presidential election.

Depending on whether they vote for Erdogan or Kılıçdaroglu. To win it over, the opposition candidate has multiplied his appeals and hardened his speech against the millions of Syrian refugees in Türkiye:”I will send all the refugees home as soon as I come to power, period”, he stressed.

Sinan Ciddi, a political scientist specializing in Turkey, points out: “They have been talking about inclusion, integration, welcoming everyone for months. Saying: Our table is open to everyone, etc. And now, in less than ten days, the party’s candidate republican of the people and its formation have taken a turn to the right”.

Without success, since earlier this week, the far-right candidate, Sinan Ogan, announced that he was siding with Erdogan: “I declare that we will support the candidate of the Popular Alliance, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the second round of the elections I invite the voters who voted for us in the first round to support Mr. Erdogan in the second.”

So, is everything tied up for Erdogan to win? Not quite, because Sinan Ogan ran in the presidential elections on behalf of an alliance of parties and just his former ally Ümit Özdağ, another Turkish far-right party, has decided to support the opposition. But he is not certain that far-right voters will follow him.

Sinan Ciddi, a political scientist specializing in Turkey, notes: “We are entering uncharted territory. We have never seen the dynamics or the political stance of a runoff election before. True. So my hunch is that we may be overestimating the value of these two small right-wing parties”.

Whatever the result of this Sunday, the extreme right has managed, in any case, to impose its favorite themes until the end of the campaign.

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