2023-05-15 10:15:00
But figures have also been circulating for hours in the staffs of the parties and within the major television channels. They come from the High Electoral Committee (YSK), the body which manages and controls the elections in Turkey. When 44% of the ballot boxes had been counted, these figures indicated that Kilicdaroglu would have obtained 47.45% of the votes once morest 46.77% for Erdogan.
”We are in the lead”, then tweeted the leader of the opposition, who disputes the first results provided by the official Anadolu agency. One of his right-hand men, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, speaking at party headquarters “au nom de Kemal Kilicdaroglu”, called “citizens to disregard the figures given by Anadolu”.
”We don’t believe Anadolu” he said on Sunday, criticizing a press agency according to him “on life support since 2019” and that “lost all respect”. An allusion to the tutelage of power over the main major Turkish media.
According to Anadolu, this Monday morning around 7:30 a.m., Mr. Erdogan, in power for twenty years, would obtain 49.35% of the vote once morest 45% for his opponent Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, following the counting of approximately 99% of the ballot boxes. The third candidate Sinan Ogan would obtain 5.22% of the votes.
An advantage to Erdogan was foreseen by the experts during the first results because these come from the countryside, in particular from central Anatolia, where the incumbent president always had more supporters. The big cities – including the metropolis of Istanbul with its sixteen million inhabitants – are more favorable to the Republicans. However, not all the ballot boxes were counted there. The AKP contests certain results.
If no candidate obtains 50%, a second round will be organized on May 28, which would be a first in the history of the Turkish Republic. The third candidate, Sinan Ogan, might therefore play the role of kingmaker. He is a former member of the MHP, the ultranationalist party which forms a coalition with Erdogan. It is therefore possible that he supports Mr. Erdogan.
Erdogan says he is ready for a second round
“Although the results are not yet published, we are clearly in the lead” he launched in front of a tide of supporters gathered in the heart of the night (02:30 local, 01:30 HB) in Ankara: “We respect this election and we will respect the next election.” he assured. “We don’t know yet if the election is over with this first round but if the people take us to the second round, we will respect it“.
“No matter the outcome, 27 million people preferred to vote for us“, noted his opponent Kemal Kiliçdaroglu as the counting operations continued. “I think we will finish this election with more than 50%” votes, he insisted. “The people chose stability and security in this presidential electionMr. Erdogan also claimed the “majority” of the 600 seats in Parliament for the National Alliance he formed between his party, the AKP and small nationalist and Islamist parties.
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