"I urge you to defend your future on May 14. I believe you will make the right decision," Erdogan said during his speech in the Turkish city of Kilis.
The Turkish president added that those "who cannot rule seven or eight people gathered at one table, should not be expected to be able to rule Turkiye with its 85 million citizens," thus hinting at the six opposition parties that managed to agree on their single presidential candidate only in early March.
Turkiye's Supreme Election Commission has unanimously approved May 14 as the date for the 2023 presidential election. A second round of voting, if necessary, is scheduled for May 28. Erdogan has been nominated as a presidential candidate by the ruling Justice and Development Party supported by the allied Nationalist Movement Party, while Kemal Kilicdaroglu has been declared the single candidate of the opposition People's Alliance.
Results of pre-election polls are constantly changing and have not yet revealed an unquestionable favorite in the upcoming election.
However, experts note that the current electoral process will be the most difficult for the ruling party, due to the devastating earthquakes that claimed the lives of over 50,000 people, as well as the difficult economic situation.