Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been declared Turkey’s First President elect since the country changed from a system which the President was elected by Turkey’s Parliament to a more democratic system which was passed through a referendum in 2010 where the people directly elected the largely symbolic role. Erdogan (51.95%), a member of Turkeys’ Justice and development party defeated two challengers, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu who came in second with 38.34% of the vote and a third challenger, Selahattin Demirtas who had 9.71% of the vote.

Introducing Turkey’s First President Elect

Turkey’s first experiment with voting, however did not produce the amount of voters that was expected with 74% of the electorate turning out to vote with speculation that many throughout the country had expected Erdogan to win which suppressed voter’s motivations to turn out and vote. “I will not be the President who of those who only voted for me” Mr. Erdogan said Sunday night at a victory rally. “I will be the President of 77 million. I will be the President who embraces all with affection”, Mr. Erdogan went onto say.

Mr. Erdogan moves from a position where he was in a role which had power and influence to a position which is largely seen as symbolic in Turkish politics since the constitution of Turkey limits the role of the President and relegate power to the Turkish parliament and the Prime Minister. However, despite this largely symbolic role, Mr. Erdogan has continually emphasized his wish to act as a “performer and a hard working (chief executive)” throughout his campaign.

Hatem Ete who is the coordinator of the SETA foundation, which is a Turkish think thank went onto say, regarding Mr. Erdogan’s wish for a more active Presidency, “With this percentage of the Vote, Erdogan can go further toward realizing the new role for which he spoke about in his rallies.”

“I will be an active President if elected”, the now elected President Erdogan said on July 11th during a campaign meeting.

Turkish political scientist Fuat Kayman went onto define President Erdogan statement of activism throughout the campaign by saying that the President’s view of an active Presidency includes “A more active role as Erdogan contemplates, requires to have more authority in economics foreign policy and administration.” Prime Minister Erdogan officially becomes Turkey’s First President on August 28th when he is sworn into office for a 5 year term.