14 LGBTQI+ organizations released a common statement, calling the opposition to take concrete steps to defend LGBTQI+ people, stand against the hate-inducing Cumhur Alliance, and protect LGBTQI+ people’s human and citizenship rights.
SPoD released “Elections 2023” guide for LGBTQI+ people. The guide consists of frequently asked questions regarding various types of discrimination LGBTQI+ may experience at the voting stations and what they can do about discriminatory treatment.
President Erdoğan targeted LGBTQI+ people 16 times in the 11 day period between May 1 and May 11. Erdoğan’s targeting happened at 14 rallies in cities across the nation, and 2 broadcast events.
SPoD’s “LGBTI+ Rights Protocol” received a total of 58 signatures from MP candidates. The breakdown of candidates according to the parties is as follows: 30 TİP, 24 Yeşil Sol Party, and 4 CHP.
Muharrem İnce withdrew from the presidential race without endorsing any candidate after a sex tape, which allegedly belonged to him, was leaked online. He was polling 2% before the withdrawal, and most of his voters are projected to vote for Kılıçdaroğlu, the opposition’s candidate. Opposition’s candidate Kılıçdaroğlu claimed the sex tape scandal was a part of Russian interference in the elections. The Russian government denied the allegations, and Kılıçdaroğlu said he has concrete evidence backing his claims. The AKP tried to paint the CHP as the organizer of the scandal but it was revealed that the social media accounts which leaked the tape first used to be part of AKTROLs, accounts which spread misinformation under the AKP’s coordination.
Diaspora voting ended with record-breaking turnout of 53%. Approximately 1.8M votes have already been transferred to Ankara.
Two Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe representatives were banned from entering Turkey. They were going to monitor the elections and the vote count.
2,500 lawyers from İstanbul Bar Association will be volunteering during the elections for election integrity.
The elections will take place on Sunday May 14, 2023. The parliamentary and presidential elections will happen simultaneously, and if a presidential candidate receives 50%+1 votes, he is elected. If no presidential candidate reaches 50%+1, a second round will be held with only 2 top candidates.
