Turkey’s 2023 Elections: Another Victory for Erdogan

Abstract

POLITICAL INSIGHT • SEPTEMBER 2023 Incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan was widely expected to face an uphill battle in the presidential and parliamentary elections that took place in Turkey in May 2023. Inflation was officially riding at 55 per cent, but the true figure was likely much higher. Turkey was – and still is – facing the largest current-account deficit in 40 years and an 80 per cent fall in the value of the Turkish lira against the dollar. The massive earthquakes of February 2023, which struck Turkey and Syria, left at least 55,000 people dead, 130,000 injured and millions displaced. Furthermore, the cost of the earthquakes was estimated to be at least $34.2 billion, which put an already fragile Turkey’s 2023 Elections: Another Victory for Erdogan