How come even with strong and popular opposition Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has won a second 5-year term?

Preeti Taneja

Entrepreneur | Posted on 27-Jun-2018

Letsdiskuss

Above is an image, taken from Reddit, of the crowd gathered in Izmir in support of Erdogan’s biggest rival Muharrem Ince. The massive crowds at such rallies made spectators and pundits believe that President Tayyip Erdogan’s 15-years political career would finally be over by a teacher-turned-lawmaker with the Republican People’s Party. However, on the result day, things turned out to be quite the opposite. Even with anti-incumbency for his few controversial decisions, Erdogan won the election for his second 5-year term with an absolute majority.

This possibly made President Tayyip Erdogan the most powerful head of modern Turkey with 20-years of office experience. Also, with unprecedented executive power in this hand, he is likely to eliminate the role of Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

Now the question comes—how come even with a major chip on his shoulder did President Tayyip Erdogan won again? How did even the most experienced analysts go wrong? And above all, how did a mammoth figure like that of opposition leader Muharrem lose?

Well, the answer isn’t really very complex. Here’s a fact that has always been quite evident: elections aren’t won on news hype and the showcase of crowds. And it is something that people need to realize; more so the people of India where the crowd in rallies are forced or lured for food and social benefits. President Tayyip Erdogan had a solid presence on the ground, among the various sections of the society. His stature wasn’t that of empty identity built by sold-out media. This is not to say his party didn’t control a part of the media. However, he had a very deep reach among the voters. People knew/know him as someone who has done things (or hasn’t, for that matter). But his opposition leader Ince was just talk, claims and promises. Or at least that’s what the election result proves.

If you want to win the election, you need to have deep reach among the voters. This is what Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has proved. And this is what Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proved back in the home.