Turkey presidential elections: President Tayyip Erdogan surpassed expectations in Sunday’s election as he sought to extend his two-decade rule, holding a significant lead over his opposition but falling short of an absolute majority. Turkey was set for a runoff presidential vote. In an election considered as a judgement on Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian course, neither Erdogan nor his opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu achieved the required 50% of the vote to avoid a second round, which will be place on May 28.
Turkish presidential election to shape country’s future
With 85 million people and membership in NATO, Turkey’s presidential election will determine not only who governs the nation, but also whether it returns to a more secular and democratic course, how it will address its acute 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 outperformed pre-election polls, though, and he came across as belligerent and confident when he spoke to his flag-waving, applauding fans. “We have 2.6 million more votes than our nearest competitor. With official results, we anticipate that this number will rise,” Erdogan remarked.
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Erdogan’s ruling coalition gains advantage going into the runoff
The outcome revealed extreme polarisation in a nation at a turning point in its political history. The outcome of the poll was expected to give Erdogan’s ruling coalition a majority in the legislature and provide him a possible advantage going into the runoff. According to the state-run news agency, 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. Kilicdaroglu, who is the leader of a six-party alliance, had a minor advantage according to polls conducted prior to the election, which predicted a very close contest. On Friday, he even exceeded the 50% mark in two polls.
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