Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned voters that a victory in May’s election for the broadest opposition alliance of his 20-year rule would be a disaster for the country, Bloomberg reports.
We cannot leave Turkey at the mercy of a coalition that is multi-faceted, greedy and directionless. We cannot allow such a disaster, Erdogan said.
Turkey’s president has stepped up his rhetoric as the country prepares for elections on May 14 amid high inflation and criticism of the government’s response to the devastating earthquakes that hit the country in early February.
Erdogan has officially launched the toughest election campaign of his career, pushing the polls forward by more than a month to May 14 from the original June 18 date. He faces an opposition bloc known as the National Alliance, which has vowed to dismantle the executive presidential system introduced by Erdogan five years ago and return to orthodox economic policies.
All choices are difficult. But the critical events in our region and in the world distinguished the May 14 vote from others, Erdogan pointed out.
Erdogan criticized the opposition’s pledge to rule by consensus, saying it would mark a return to the contentious coalitions that fueled decades of instability before he came to power in 2002.
