Elections in Turkey: Ingye withdrew his candidacy. This works to the advantage of Kylichdarougli

He explained this decision by the wave of compromising documents that hit him during the election campaign.
Three days before the presidential elections in Turkey, one of the four candidates, Muharram Ingye, who was said to have secured a victory for Erdogan by taking part of the opposition votes, has left the race.

Ingye has been under intense pressure for divising the opposition, which rightly believes it has a real chance to finally oust Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"I will withdraw my candidacy," the leader of the Memleket Party told journalists.

As one of the reasons for withdrawing his candidacy, he cited the spread of fake photos of a sexual nature, complained that he was subjected to slander and harassment for a month and a half, and that the Turkish government could not protect his reputation.

"Fake accounts, fake videos, photos... they took a video from a porn site in Israel and edited my face into it. "Unfortunately, some people in Turkey are spreading these videos for their benefit," he said.

Ingye also said that he does not want to be blamed by the alliance of opposition parties if Erdogan wants to retain power.

Ingye's refusal to participate in the election was great news for Kemal Kilicdoroglu, the main opponent of the incumbent President Recep Erdogan. Kilichdorogli leads an alliance of six opposition parties, and according to the latest polls, he is expected to win 49 percent of the vote.

The Turkish stock market also reacted to this news with a sharp increase.

President Erdogan has been ruling the country for 20 years. In the last years of his administration, Turkey faced serious economic problems, in particular, the inflation rate reached 44 percent. Many analysts blame the president personally for meddling in the policy of the Central Bank of Turkey.

The Central Bank has practically no independence, and the president takes the decisions he expects from it. The president has his own views on monetary policy.

Erdogan is also accused of failing to respond in time and adequately to the devastating earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people in 11 provinces in February.

Despite Erdogan's authoritarianism, elections play an important role in Turkey - in recent decades, people have become accustomed to the possibility of influencing politics, and no one is ready to part with this opportunity.

Even though Inzhye's share in the polls is not that big, the opposition supporters believe that his exit from the race (and the votes of his supporters remain in the opposition) will lead to more than 50 percent of the votes in the first round on Sunday. Many believe that it will be enough to win.

If one of the candidates does not get 50 percent of the votes, a second round will be held in two weeks.

Five years ago, Ingye ran for the opposition Republican People's Party and won 30 percent of the vote, but left the party the following year.

In the 2018 elections, Ingye was accused of being a "protector" of the ruling Justice and Development Party.

Turkish social media users and analysts noted that Ingye focused on the opposition candidate instead of criticizing the ruling party and its leader in this election. For example, he supported the ruling party and accused Kylichdoroglu of being in contact with FETO.

Elections in Turkey: Can Erdogan retain power?

Turkish opposition

The Turkish opposition, called the "People's Coalition", consists of six parties: the republican People's Party (CHP), founded by Atatürk at the beginning of the last century, the religious "Saodat Party", the right-wing nationalist "Good Party" (İYİ Parti), the centrist "Democratic Party", "Democracy and Development Party" and "Future Party" founded by the former chairman of the ruling party, former prime minister and former foreign minister Ahmad Davutoglu. The willingness of different forces to unite in the political struggle is a sign of how much their voters expect changes in the country.

The head of the Republican People's Party Kamal Kilichdoroglu is responsible for the united opposition. His colleagues see him as the future president of Turkey.

Kamal Kylichdoroglu is 74 years old. For the past 13 years, he has been leading the Republican People's Party, which is considered the oldest party in the country.

The candidate is going to these elections with many promises.

The main ones are fighting for rights and freedoms, getting rid of corruption and nepotism, resolving disagreements with NATO allies and directing foreign policy towards the West, Erdogan's reform of the country.