Why Turkey’s Election Is All About the Economy

The Spice Bazaar in Istanbul. In the run-up to May 14 presidential elections, Turkey reported that inflation slowed below 50% for the first time in over a year.Photographer: Kerem Uzel/Bloomberg

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By Ben Holland

May 13, 2023 at 10:45 AM UTC

Voters in Turkey may be about to call time on an experiment in economics—one that hasn’t been going well as of late.

Sunday’s election sees President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fighting to extend his 20 years at the helm of a $900 billion economy—one of the world’s 10 largest emerging markets—in a contest with Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the Republican People’s party. Depending on the result, it could go to a runoff two weeks later.