Only 117 female candidates have a chance of entering Parliament in the May 14 elections. A slight improvement compared to 17% in the last election in 2018, but the percentage is still very low. Erdogan’s election promises in a climate of uncertainty: the latest is free gas for all families, from a recently discovered field.
Istanbul () – In the parliamentary and presidential elections on May 14 in Turkey, characterized by great uncertainty and aimed at determining the future of the country and the region, as well as that of Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself, there is already a big loser : women. From the current government coalition to the opposition movements, passing through the “Table of Six”, which presents itself as the most battle-hardened front to dispute the victory of the “sultan”, none of the parties has opted for the so-called “quotas”. pink”. And reviewing the electoral lists, the human rights groups emphasize that “only 117 deputies have a real chance of entering the Assembly”, with a percentage figure that does not even reach a fifth of the total and stops at 19.50%. .
The issue of female candidates (and their representativeness) in the elections to be held on May 14 is raised by a movement in defense of women’s rights, which attacks all the main parties running in these elections. Despite a non-marginal presence of women, explain the activists of the “Women’s Platform for Equality” (EŞİK), many of them have been placed in positions that -in practice- they have no real possibility of entering.
Among the parties, the left-wing Greens (YSP) are the ones with the highest number of pink quotas, with 41.54% of women candidates on the lists. The lowest figure is from the MHP Nationalist Movement, with a paltry 4% of female candidates. President Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), its MHP ally the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and its ally İYİ Party have no female candidates in 34, 40, 21 and 22 provinces respectively.
According to the projections made by the EŞİK activists based on the electoral lists submitted by the different parties, there will be no female representation in Parliament in at least 33 of the 81 provinces. The group estimates that only 117 deputies will have access to Parliament, which is equivalent to a percentage figure of 19.5%, slightly higher than in 2018, when the women elected were only 17% of the total.
The eve of the vote is characterized by uncertainty and the main opinion research institutes forecast a second round for the presidential seat. In fact, neither of the two main candidates, Erdogan and his opposition rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, have enough votes to win in the first round, which requires a 50% majority. In this context of tension and struggle for each vote, the outgoing president multiplies promises and benefits to the population to ensure a new term. The last, in chronological order, is the free delivery to families of the first tranche of natural gas to be extracted from an offshore field discovered in 2020 in the Black Sea.
The announcement is the latest in many attempts by the government to flaunt big energy and infrastructure projects ahead of the elections. “We will provide free natural gas for domestic consumption up to 25 cubic meters per month for one year,” Erdogan promised at the opening of a natural gas plant in the northern province of Zonguldak. And for the next month, decisive for the elections, gas consumption will be “unlimited and free for all”, he concluded.
