2014 Turkish presidential election

2014 Turkish presidential election
← 2007 10 August 2014 2018 →
Turnout74.13%
 
Candidate Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu Selahattin Demirtaş
Party AK Party Cross-party[a] HDP
Popular vote 21,000,143 15,587,720 3,958,048
Percentage 51.79% 38.44% 9.76%
Results by province
President before election

Abdullah Gül
AK Party

Elected President

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
AK Party

Presidential elections were held in Turkey on 10 August 2014 in order to elect the 12th President.[2] Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was elected outright with an absolute majority of the vote in the first round, making a scheduled run-off for 24 August unnecessary.

The election took place under reforms resulting from the 2007 constitutional referendum, which introduced a direct national vote, rather than election by members of the parliament. Over 55 million people were eligible to vote, both within Turkey and abroad.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, leader of the AK Party and Prime Minister since 2003 after winning the 2002 Turkish general election, won with 51.79% of the vote. Former Organisation of Islamic Cooperation General Secretary Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, who ran as the joint candidate of 13 opposition parties including the Republican People's Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), came second with 38.44%. The co-leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş, who received the backing of 8 left-wing parties, came third with 9.76%.[3]

Erdoğan took over as president from Abdullah Gül on 28 August, while Ahmet Davutoğlu, who was elected leader of the AK Party, succeeded Erdoğan as Prime Minister on the same date. It has been speculated that Erdoğan will continue to pursue his political agenda as president while Davutoğlu takes a docile approach as Prime Minister, breaking away from the ceremonial and neutral functions of the presidency and potentially pursuing constitutional changes to turn Turkey into a presidential or semi-presidential system.[4][5][6]

The election was criticised by both the political opposition and international observers for alleged media bias in favour of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, corruption allegations, the inaccuracy of opinion polls and the misuse of official public resources during Erdoğan's campaign.[7][8][9][10] While praising the authorities for safeguarding the right to assembly as well as the peaceful electoral conduct, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) voiced concerns over the unequal distribution of campaign resources and media intimidation.[11][12] The historic 12-year low turnout of 74.13%, attributed to the fact that the election was held in summer while many citizens were on holiday, was seen by many politicians such as MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli as a significant factor in affecting the outcome.[13][14][15] The election loss for the opposition CHP resulted in its leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu taking the decision to hold a party convention with a leadership election in response to growing dissatisfaction against his electoral performance.[16][17]

  1. ^ "CHP'nin Cumhurbaşkanı adayı Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu". Bugün. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  2. ^ "Turkey sets Aug 10 for presidential election: source". Reuters. 7 March 2014. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  3. ^ "YSK Web Portal". ysk gov tr.
  4. ^ "Turkey's Davutoglu expected to be a docile prime minister _ with Erdogan calling the shots". Fox News. 24 March 2015.
  5. ^ "Davutoglu, Turkey's docile prime minister". Al Arabiya. 26 August 2014.
  6. ^ "Ağustos Sonrası Başkanlık mı, Yarı Başkanlık mı?, Prof. Dr. Mehmet Özcan - Ankara Strateji Enstitüsü". Archived from the original on 28 April 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  7. ^ "Anket şirketleri manipülasyon mu yaptı?: source=Bugün". Bugün. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  8. ^ "Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu: Rıza Sarraf'ın çömezleri bizi korkutamaz: source=Cihan Haber Ajansı". CHA. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  9. ^ ""Katil ve Hırsızdan Cumhurbaşkanı Olmaz" Pankartı: source=Haberciniz". Haberciniz Haber. 23 July 2014. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  10. ^ "Times: TRT'den Erdoğan'a 204, rakiplerine 3 dakika: source=The Times". BBC Türkçe. 31 July 2014. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  11. ^ "OSCE observers note biased media coverage in Turkish elections: source=OSCE". Famagusta Gazette. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  12. ^ "OSCE alarmed over Turkish PM's intimidation of female journalist: source=OSCE". Hürriyet Daily News. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  13. ^ "Seçimlere katılım oranı 12 yılın en düşük oranında kaldı (SEÇİM 2014): source=Bugün". Bugün. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  14. ^ "Köşk seçiminde sonucu, oy kullanmayan 13 milyon seçmen belirledi: source=T24". T24 Haber. Archived from the original on 7 September 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  15. ^ "Devlet Bahçeli'den çok sert açıklama: source=CNN Türk". CNN Türk. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  16. ^ "İşte CHP Kurultayı'nın toplanacağı tarih: source=Gerçek Gündem". Gerçek Gündem. Archived from the original on 23 March 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  17. ^ "CHP olağanüstü kurultaya gidiyor: source=CNN Türk". CNN Türk. 21 March 2013. Archived from the original on 18 August 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2014.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).