The world’s tallest man who stands at 8ft 3in votes in Turkey’s elections – as 61million cast ballots as country is battered by economic crisis
The world’s tallest man has cast his vote in Turkey’s national elections, joining an eye-popping 61 million people ready to decide who is best suited to lead the nation out of raging inflation rates and a massive devaluation of the lira to lead.
Sultan Kosen, who towers above everyone else in the world at 2.5 meters tall, was seen today peering out of the privacy curtain at the polling station in the Derik district of Mardin, on Turkey’s southern border.
Turks voted in municipal elections on Sunday, with all eyes on Istanbul, the national “jewel” that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hopes to pry away from the opposition.
But there appeared to be no over-enthusiasm at the polling stations, against a backdrop of raging inflation and massive devaluation.
“Everyone worries every day,” said Guler Kaya, who admitted she had to stop going out.
Sultan Kosen, who towers at 2.5 meters above everyone else in the world, was seen today peering out of the polling station’s privacy curtain
Turks voted in municipal elections on Sunday, with all eyes on Istanbul, the national ‘jewel’ that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hopes to pry away from the opposition
He cast his vote for the municipal elections in Derik district of Mardin, Turkiye on March 31, 2024.
Sultan Kosen, who with his height of 2 meters and 51 centimeters bears the title of ‘tallest man in the world’, poses for a photo with children
“The crisis is swallowing up the middle class, we have had to change all our habits,” said the 43-year-old.
“If Erdogan wins, things will get worse,” she added.
In the capital Ankara, Meliha Sonmez warned as she prepared to vote: “These elections are not just municipal.”
“If Erdogan loses the ballot, he will be weakened,” said the retired woman in her 60s who lost 32 family members in the devastating Hatay earthquake in February 2023.
Erdogan may not be a candidate in the municipal elections, but his name has dominated from the campaign until election day.
His path to power in Turkey began in Istanbul, when he was elected mayor of the mythical city that straddles Europe and Asia in 1994.
His allies held the city until Ekrem Imamoglu of the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP) took control five years ago, generating international headlines.
As soon as Erdogan was re-elected as president last May – he has held the position since 2014 – he launched the fight to reclaim the city of 16 million inhabitants.
“Istanbul is the jewel, the treasure and the apple of our country’s eye,” the 70-year-old leader said at a recent meeting in the city.
A citizen who was unable to go to the polls due to illness or disability casts his vote for the municipal elections via a mobile ballot box
Citizens arrive to cast their votes at a polling station
Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul and Republican People’s Party candidate for re-election, waves as he arrives to cast his vote
“Whoever wins Istanbul wins Turkey,” Erman Bakirci, a pollster with Konda Research and Consultancy, once recalled.
Armed clashes were reported from a village in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey as voting was underway, leaving one dead and 12 injured.
The Turkish president named former Environment Minister Murat Kurum as his candidate.
Opinion polls gave Imamoglu a slight lead, but analysts warn that polls in Turkey have gotten it wrong before and the outcome is far from certain.
The 2019 vote was controversially annulled, but Imamoglu won re-election by an even wider margin, making him an instant hero to Turkey’s notoriously fractured opposition and a formidable foe for Erdogan.
If Imamoglu manages to retain Istanbul’s mayoral seat, he will likely be the ruling party’s main challenger in the next presidential election, scheduled for 2028.
The elections are being held with inflation as high as 67 percent and with a massive devaluation of the lira, which has fallen from 19 to 1 dollar to 31 to 1 dollar in one year. Analysts say this could work to the opposition’s advantage.
Erdogan put all his energy into campaigning for his candidate.
Citizens cast their votes for the municipal elections at a polling station in Istanbul
About 61 million voters elect mayors in Turkey’s 81 provinces
On Saturday he appeared at three campaign rallies in Istanbul, where he delivered his message that Imamoglu, whose name he never mentions, is a “part-time mayor” consumed by presidential ambitions.
‘Istanbul has been left to fend for itself for the past five years. We hope to save it from disaster,” he said.
Imamoglu focused his campaign on local issues and defended his achievements during his time in office.
“Every vote you give to the CHP means more subways, daycare centers, green spaces, social services and investments,” he has promised.
About 61 million voters elect mayors in Turkey’s 81 provinces, as well as members of the provincial councils and other local officials.
The opposition is divided ahead of the elections, unlike the local elections five years ago.
This time, the main opposition party, the social democrat CHP, has failed to gain support for a single candidate.
And the pro-Kurdish DEM party, the third largest in parliament with 600 seats, is putting forward two candidates for mayor of Istanbul, while in the 2019 race it agreed to stay out of the vote to implicitly support the opposition.
Polling stations opened at 0400 GMT in the east of the country and were due to close at 1400 GMT in the west, including Istanbul.
The first estimates are expected to be released late Sunday.