Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues his election campaign after illness for the third day in a row. He did not appear in person at the inauguration of a bridge in southern Turkey’s Adana on Friday and only connected via video from his office. In recent inaugurations and openings, the 69-year-old is usually campaigning for his reelection on May 14.
Erdogan fell ill on Tuesday evening, more than two weeks before the parliamentary and presidential elections. First he had to interrupt a television interview because of stomach problems, after which he took a campaign break.
Connected only by video at the inauguration of the first nuclear power plant
Then on Thursday he appeared in a video conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which he looked pale. The occasion was the ceremony for the delivery of fuel rods for Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in Akkuyu in southern Turkey. The event should have been one of the highlights of Erdogan’s re-election campaign.
Challenger Kilicdaroglu delivers hard race to Erdogan
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca reported on Thursday that Erdogan had contracted gastroenteritis but was now on the mend. Polls suggest the election will be a neck-and-neck race between Erdogan and his strongest challenger, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu. So far, Erdogan has conducted an intense election campaign, usually appearing in front of an audience three times in one day.
Turks abroad can already vote
Voting began on Thursday for the more than three million Turks living abroad, among whom Erdogan and his Islamist conservative AKP traditionally enjoy strong support. About 108,000 people have the right to vote in Austria, according to the Turkish embassy. Ambassador Ozan Ceyhun, in Thursday’s APA interview, was confident that this time more than half of Turkish citizens living in Austria will vote. In the presidential and parliamentary elections in June 2018, turnout in Austria was around 49 percent, which was significantly lower than in the mother country.
Source: Krone
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