The world’s tallest man has cast his vote in Turkey’s national election, joining 61 million people who are ready to decide who is best suited to lead the nation out of sky-high inflation rates and a massive currency devaluation. lira.
Sultan Kosen, who towers over everyone else in the world at 8ft 3in, was seen today peering through the privacy curtain at the polling station in the Derik district of Mardin, on Turkey’s southern border.
Turks voted on Sunday in municipal elections, with all eyes on Istanbul, the national “jewel” that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hopes to take from the opposition.
But there did not seem to be excess enthusiasm at the polling stations, in a context of rampant inflation and massive devaluation.
“Everyone is worried about everyday life,” Guler Kaya said, admitting that she had to stop going out.
Sultan Kosen, who towers over everyone else in the world at 8ft 3in, was seen today peering through the privacy curtain at the polling station.
Turks voted on Sunday in municipal elections, with all eyes on Istanbul, the national “jewel” that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hopes to take from the opposition.
He cast his vote for the municipal elections in the Derik district of Mardin, Turkiye, on March 31, 2024.
Sultan Kosen, who with his height of 2 meters 51 centimeters holds the title of “the tallest man in the world”, poses for a photograph with children
“The crisis is swallowing the middle class, we have had to change all our habits,” said this 43-year-old man.
“If Erdogan wins, the situation will be even worse,” he added.
In Ankara, the capital, Meliha Sonmez issued a warning as she prepared to vote: “These elections are not just municipal.”
“If Erdogan loses the election, he will be weakened,” said the retired woman in her 60s who lost 32 family members in the devastating February 2023 Hatay earthquake.
Erdogan may not be a candidate in the municipal elections, but his name has dominated from the campaign until voting day.
His path to power in Turkey began in Istanbul when he was elected mayor of the mythical city straddling Europe and Asia in 1994.
Their allies controlled the city until Ekrem Imamoglu of the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP) wrested control five years ago, generating international headlines.
As soon as Erdogan won re-election as president last May (he has held the position since 2014), he launched the battle to take back the city of 16 million inhabitants.
“Istanbul is the jewel, the treasure and the apple of our country’s eye,” the 70-year-old leader said at a recent rally in the city.
A citizen who could not go to the polls due to illness or disability casts his vote for the municipal elections through a mobile ballot box
Citizens come to cast their vote at an electoral college
Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul and Republican People’s Party candidate for re-election, waves as he arrives to cast his vote.
“Whoever wins Istanbul, Turkey wins,” Erdogan recalled Erman Bakirci, a pollster at Konda Research and Consultancy, once saying.
Armed clashes were reported in a predominantly Kurdish village in southeastern Turkey while voting was taking place, leaving one dead and 12 injured.
The Turkish president named former Environment Minister Murat Kurum as a candidate.
Polls gave Imamoglu a slight lead, but analysts warn that opinion polls in Turkey have been wrong before and the outcome is far from certain.
The 2019 vote was controversially annulled, but Imamoglu won the second vote by an even larger margin, instantly making him a hero for Turkey’s notoriously fractured opposition and a formidable foe for Erdogan.
If Imamoglu manages to retain the seat of Istanbul mayor, he will likely be the ruling party’s main rival in the next presidential election, scheduled for 2028.
The elections are being held with inflation at a whopping 67 percent and with a massive devaluation of the lira, which fell from 19 to the dollar to 31 to the dollar in one year. Analysts say this could favor the opposition.
Erdogan devoted all his energy to campaigning for his candidate.
Citizens cast their vote for the municipal elections at a polling station in Istanbul
Some 61 million voters elect mayors in Türkiye’s 81 provinces
He appeared at three campaign rallies in Istanbul on Saturday, hammering home his message that Imamoglu, whose name he never mentions, is a “part-time mayor” consumed by presidential ambitions.
‘Istanbul has been abandoned to its fate these last five years. We hope to save it from disaster,” he stated.
Imamoglu focused his campaign on local issues and defended his achievements in office.
“Every vote you give to the CHP will mean more subways, daycares, green spaces, social benefits and investment,” he promised.
Some 61 million voters elect mayors in Turkey’s 81 provinces, as well as members of provincial councils and other local officials.
The opposition has fractured before the polls, unlike the local elections five years ago.
This time, the main opposition party, the social democratic CHP, has failed to rally support behind a single candidate.
And the pro-Kurdish DEM party, the third largest in the 600-seat parliament, is fielding two candidates for Istanbul mayor, while in the 2019 race it agreed to stay out of the vote to implicitly support the opposition.
The polls opened at 0400 GMT in the east of the country and were due to close at 1400 GMT in the west, including Istanbul.
The first estimates are expected to be published late Sunday.