President Tayyip Erdogan won the first round of voting in Turkey over opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, but fell short of a clear majority needed to continue ruling the NATO member state for another 20 years.
In an election considered as a verdict on Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian approach, neither Erdogan nor Kilicdaroglu received the required 50% of the vote to avoid a second round, which will take place on May 28.
Turkey’s presidential election will determine not only who will be in charge, but also whether the country returns to a more secular, democratic course, how it will address its terrible cost of living crisis, and how it will handle important connections with Russia, the Middle East, and the West.
Kilicdaroglu asked his followers to be patient and accused Erdogan’s party of tampering with the counting and reporting of results. Kilicdaroglu predicted he would win the runoff.
Erdogan, though, fared better than pre-election surveys had projected, and he came out as belligerent and self-assured as he spoke to his fans.
“We are already ahead of our closest rival by 2.6 million votes. We expect this figure to increase with official results,” Erdogan said.
According to the state-run news agency Anadolu, Erdogan was in the lead with 49.39% of the vote versus Kilicdaroglu’s 44.92% after over 97% of the ballots had been counted. With 91.93% of the ballots counted, Turkey’s High Election Board gave Erdogan 49.49% of the vote.
Numerous Erdogan supporters gathered at the party’s Ankara headquarters, loudspeakers blasting party music as they waved flags. Some people danced in public.
“We know it is not exactly a celebration yet but we hope we will soon celebrate his victory. Erdogan is the best leader we had for this country and we love him,” said Yalcin Yildrim, 39, who owns a textile factory.
