Erdogan’s vaulting ambition threatened by Kurdish rivals

President Tayyip Erdogan sought a crushing victory for his vision of a “new Turkey” at elections yesterday that would furnish him with sweeping executive powers opponents say could undermine democracy.

However, Erdogan’s ambitions could be thwarted by a Kurdish-rooted opposition party that is looking to enter parliament for the first time, and could put an end to 12 years of single-party rule for AKP, the party founded by Erdogan.

The mood was tense at some polling stations, particularly in the mainly Kurdish southeast, after a bombing on Friday killed two people and wounded at least 200 at a rally for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).