Shortly before the presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey, those responsible have tightened security measures for candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Presidential challenger Recep Tayyip Erdogan wore a bulletproof vest during his campaign appearances yesterday.
In addition, bodyguards armed with assault rifles accompanied the head of the center-left opposition party CHP to the speaker’s stand, which was not the case before.
According to a senior CHP member, the party received information that the most voted candidate could be attacked. He did not elaborate.
Erdogan Replacement Chances Increased
According to the latest polls, Kilicdaroglu and his six-party electoral alliance are most likely to replace Erdogan, who has been in power for 20 years, on Sunday. Some 64.3 million Turks – including six million first-time voters – are called to vote.
Whoever gets more than 50% of the votes on the first ballot becomes the new president. If neither candidate succeeds in doing so, the two highest-placed candidates will face each other in a run-off two weeks later.
Besides Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu, there is now only one other presidential candidate. According to observers, the nationalist Sinan Ogan has no chance of winning and should only take votes away from Erdogan.