It was a tense and confusing night after election polls closed in Turkey yesterday. The official result is still unclear, but a runoff between the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and his main challenger, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, looks increasingly likely. Neither seem to have reached the necessary 50% threshold to win the election outright, but Erdoğan is clearly in the lead. In a press conference in the early morning hours, Kılıçdaroğlu said he that he was confident that he would win the runoff. However, enthusiasm, both onstage and among his supporters, was muted. These were not the faces of winners.
While many thought that the opposition’s campaign, centred around political reform, unity and an end to the toxic polarisation in the country, was a breath of fresh air; others have criticised Kılıçdaroğlu’s approach for targeting mostly those who already agreed with his views, for his blue-sky attitude and focus on positive soundbites on social media.
