“Electoral economy” – this is how the opposition in Turkey calls the steps taken by the government in recent months, aimed at improving the living standards of the people in the country. The cost of living is a major concern for voters, and the government is trying to mitigate the effects of high inflation with record social spending, including an increase in the minimum wage, low-interest housing loans, tax amnesty plans and various other reliefs, BTA reported.
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has asked retailers to freeze
partly the prices of goods before the election. After months of persuasion, the largest supermarket chains in the country began to freeze and reduce prices. Recently, Finance Minister Noureddine Nebati called on clothing and shoe stores to follow suit by starting the discount season much earlier than the usual March.
Earlier this week, in another pre-election social step, the government announced plans for a comprehensive tax amnesty.
On Monday, Erdogan announced that the ruling party was working on a bill that would eliminate penalties for tax liabilities and restructure debts, allowing them to be repaid over a period of time. The package will cover taxes, arrears for insurance premiums, court and administrative fines, property tax arrears to municipalities, outstanding debts for electricity, water and education loans. It is expected that the tax on motor vehicles, fines for illegal crossing of bridges and highways, customs fines will also fall within its scope, reports Business Turkey Today. According to the bill, the collection of penalties for citizens who have obligations to the tax authorities before December 31 of this year, as long as they do not exceed 2,000 Turkish liras, the president explained.
What’s more, the ordinance will erase drivers’ penalty points,
except those who have been driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs and those who have been involved in accidents resulting in deaths and injuries. In this way, about 2.5 million driver penalty points will be erased, and about 10 thousand driver’s licenses will be returned.
The Turkish president recently announced that he will move the date of the elections, originally scheduled for June, to May 14.
This happens at a time when sociological surveys show that the rating of the rulers is strengthening. Analysts and sociologists explain this trend with the social initiatives taken by the government, which also include a project for the construction of social housing under the TOKI program, the possibility of early retirement, low-interest loans for the first home, a limit on the increase of rents, the abolition of the indexation of contributions on student loans according to inflation, etc.
The consolidation of the government’s rating appears to be supported
and from the internal misunderstandings and hesitancy of the opposition, which has not yet been able to unite around a common presidential candidate.
A study by the Center for Community Impact Research (TEAM) showed last month,
that the strengthening of the positions of President Erdoğan’s party continues – the AKP received 37.5 percent of the vote in the poll, and its partner the Nationalist Action Party – 6.5 percent, giving their Republican coalition a combined 44 percent of the vote. According to the survey, the AKP managed to win back part of wavering voters, while at the same time a drop in support for the opposition People’s Republican Party (NRP) and “Good Party” was registered, the opposition publication “Diken” wrote.
Even more definitive are the results of a more recent study carried out by the Optimar agency, known for its support for the government,
according to which both AKP and Erdogan himself are increasing their rating. According to this poll, support for the AKP stands at 41.1 percent (compared to 23.6 percent for the country’s main opposition force), and 42.1 percent of respondents say they will vote for Erdogan in the presidential election.
“In recent months, the opposition “table of six” (an informal coalition of six opposition forces,
united by the intention to field a common candidate against Erdogan and restore the parliamentary system of government) gave the impression that it was having difficulty coordinating its members, that it could not put its internal power struggles behind itself and was wasting the energy it would need to win the elections, for internal struggles and for the nomination of a candidate.
As a result, it failed to present itself as a single, clear and attractive alternative,
that can compete with the government,” says analyst Murat Yetkin of the Yetkin Report. “While the government offered pragmatic benefits such as raising the minimum wage, tax amnesty, cheap loans and early retirement to win over wavering voters, the promises of the opposition remained scattered and unclear,” he adds.
For now, one can only guess what the effect of the measures taken will be
on improving the living standards of Turks and on securing an election victory in May for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. However, it is more than certain that the economy will be the deciding factor in the outcome of the vote.
