IT’S election day in Turkiye, and it’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is leading the presidential elections, but it looks like the polls are heading to a runoff.
With 99 percent of the ballots counted in the presidential election, preliminary official results show that neither incumbent President Erdogan, nor his rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu of The Republican People’s Party, has managed to reach the 50 percent threshold needed in the first round to avoid a runoff later this May.
The voting tally released on Monday by Turkiye’s electoral body shows that Erdogan received 49 percent of the vote, while Kilicdaroglu received 45 percent.
Meanwhile, Sinan Ogan, an independent candidate, received 5.2 percent.
In an address to his supporters around 2 a.m., President Erdogan said he hoped to avoid a runoff but is still ready for a second round.
Erdogan also blasted the opposition for trying to deceive the country with claims of voting irregularities instead of waiting for the final announcement of the results.
“But of course, we are not like those who try to deceive the nation… By creating a picture where they are far behind but saying they were ahead,” said Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkiye.
It can be remembered that Erdogan’s rival accused the ruling justice development party of stalling the voting count by demanding recounts and that he would accept a runoff vote and intended to win the elections.
“If our nation says second round, we will absolutely win in the second round,” said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Turkish presidential candidate
There are more than 64 million eligible voters in Turkiye, including nearly 5 million people who will vote for the first time.
A presidential candidate needs more than 50 percent of the votes in the first round to win; however, if none of the candidates crosses reaches the 50 percent threshold, the top two candidates will go ahead in a second round two weeks later.
The runoff between Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu is scheduled to happen on May 28 this year, as announced by the Turkish election authority.
