The third-place finisher in the first ballot for the presidency in Turkey has expressed his support for the runoff election to incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Sinan Oğan called on his voters on Monday to vote for Erdoğan in the May 28 runoff. Observers had assumed that most of the right-wing candidate’s voters would switch to the Erdoğan camp anyway.
It is disputed whether Oğan’s public election recommendation actually has an influence on the voter decision. Sinan Oğan got a good five percent of the votes in the first round. Shortly before his speech, the ultra-nationalist party alliance for which he was a candidate dissolved. One of the former alliance partners called Oğan’s statement his “own political preferences”, while another ex-alliance member announced his support for Erdoğan’s challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Sunday.
Erdoğan is the favorite in next Sunday’s election. In the first round, he finished a good 4.5 percentage points ahead of second-placed Kılıçdaroğlu, who had promised an end to Erdoğan’s autocratic policies. Oğan and Erdoğan, on the other hand, agree on many points, for example on a hard line against Kurdish separatists.
“It is important that the parliament and the presidency are held by the same political group to maintain stability,” Oğan said when announcing his support for Erdoğan. His alliance won more than half of the seats in Turkey’s 600-seat General Assembly in the elections. Oğan had previously emphasized that he would attach great importance to the country’s stability when considering which candidate to support.
However, Oğan has also made it clear in the past that he wants something in return for his support. He had government office or vice presidency in mind. On Monday he said his campaign had turned nationalists into kingmakers in politics.