A look at the candidates in Turkey’s presidential elections

Sunday will see Turkish presidential and legislative elections.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey for two decades, has never been more vulnerable to an opposition challenge.

Erdogan has increased authoritarianism in Turkey. Opinion polls show him trailing Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the unified opposition candidate who promises to restore democracy.

A February earthquake, a debilitating economic crisis, and high prices are affecting the elections.

Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu are presidential frontrunners. On Thursday, one contestant withdrew, leaving three candidates.

On May 28, the two candidates with the most votes in Sunday’s presidential election will face off in a runoff. Presidential candidates:

RECEPTAYYIP ERDOGAN

The 69-year-old strongman politician, who has been prime minister and president for two decades and easily won five elections, is seeking a third consecutive presidential term.

Sunday’s elections are his hardest yet. The incumbent, who has concentrated a lot of authority in his hands during his 20 years in office, has seen his popularity ratings decline amid economic upheaval and increasing inflation blamed on his mismanagement.

His image as a strong leader was tarnished by a devastating earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people in southern Turkey.

The president has pledged to reconstruct the quake-ravaged region within a year, citing his infrastructure record.

Erdogan, who leads the conservative and religious Justice and Development Party, has allied with two nationalist parties, a minor left-wing party, and an Islamist party. He also receives support from a dubious Kurdish-Islamist group with apparent ties to a 1990s-era organization that committed terrible murders.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu

Since 2010, the 74-year-old politician has led Turkey’s center-left and pro-secular main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP. The gentle ex-bureaucrat has united Turkey’s disparate opposition.

His Nation Alliance contains a center-right party, a nationalist party, an Islamist party, and two parties that left Erdogan’s ruling party.

It aspires to overthrow Erdogan and return Turkey to a “strong parliamentary system” with strong checks and balances by abolishing the 2017 referendum-imposed presidential system. The partnership also promises more rights and freedoms and more conventional economic policies.

The leaders of the five other parties in the Nation Alliance, who would become vice presidents if Kilicdaroglu wins, support him. His campaigning mayors of Istanbul and Ankara may also be appointed vice presidents. A pro-Kurdish opposition party, Turkey’s second-largest, supports Kilicdaroglu.

Sinan Ogan

The 55-year-old nationalist politician is a former academic and Caucasus expert.

Small right-wing parties like the Victory Party, which wants Syrian refugees repatriated, support him. In a TV interview, Ogan indicated he would deport Syrians back “by force if necessary” if elected.

He failed to lead Turkey’s biggest nationalist party as a parliamentarian. He rejoined the party after being sacked but left over policy differences, notably the nationalists’ collaboration with Erdogan’s party.

MUHARREM INCE

After a respectable poll revealed a dramatic dip in his popularity, the 58-year-old head of the center-left, pro-secular, and nationalist Homeland Party pulled out on Thursday.

Ince will remain on the ballot, and his abroad votes from this week will be counted.

The fiery politician has been criticized for splitting the anti-Erdogan Nation Alliance’s support and possibly prompting a presidential runoff.

Ince campaigned against Erdogan in 2018 presidential elections with the CHP ticket, receiving 30% of the vote, but afterwards left the party. The former physics teacher was attacked for disappearing on election night and conceding defeat to a journalist over WhatsApp.