Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed a “clear lead” over his rival as votes continued to be counted on Monday, but said he was open to a runoff election if necessary.
“We still don’t know if the election will be over in the first round or not, but if people take us to the second round, we will respect that too,” Erdogan told his supporters. said, adding that his ruling coalition “has won a majority.” “In Parliament.
A day earlier, the country’s landmark election headed toward a possible runoff after a stormy night in which Erdogan’s rivals contested the ballot count.
The state-run Anadolu news agency put the 69-year-old leader behind with 49.86 percent and his rival Kemal Kildar Oglu with 44.38 percent.
Anadolu’s figures were based on a vote count of 90.6 percent.
On May 28, one or the other of the candidates needed to break the 50% threshold to avoid Turkey’s first election runoff in the 100-year history of the post-Ottoman Republic.
But the opposition camp, led by Kilikdar Oglu, objected.
“We’re leading,” the 74-year-old tweeted.
Leading opposition figures said the government was deliberately undercounting in districts where the Oglu clan enjoys strong support.
“They are contesting the counting from the ballot boxes where we are leading by a large margin,” Istanbul’s opposition mayor Ikram Imamoglu told reporters.
Imamoglu said internal opposition vote counts showed that Kelikdaroglu won 49 percent of the vote and Erdogan only 45.
But neither the state-run media nor those presented by the opposition seem to be avoiding the possibility of another presidential vote being held in Turkey in two weeks.
Huge turnout
The election night drama had high stakes involved.
Turnout was expected to reach 90% in what has effectively become a referendum on Turkey’s longest-serving leader and his Islamist-rooted party.
Erdogan has led the nation of 85 million into its most transformative and divisive era.
Turkey has become a military and geopolitical heavyweight, playing a role in conflicts from Syria to Ukraine.
The NATO member’s footprint in both Europe and the Middle East makes the outcome of the election as important to Washington and Brussels as it is to Damascus and Moscow.
Erdogan is a lion in various parts of conservative Turkey, which has seen rapid growth under his rule.
More religious voters are also grateful for her decision to lift secular-era restrictions on the headscarf and introduce more Islamic schools.
“I hope to God that after the counting ends this evening, the result is good for the future of our country, for the democracy of Turkey,” Erdogan said after casting his vote in Istanbul.
‘We all miss democracy’
Erdogan’s first decade of economic recovery and warming relations with Europe was followed by a second decade of social and political turmoil.
He responded to a failed coup attempt in 2016 with a sweeping purge that sent chills through Turkish society and made him an increasingly uncomfortable partner for the West.
The emergence of Kilicdaroglu and his six-party opposition coalition — the kind of broad-based coalition Erdogan excelled at forging throughout his career — provides a clear alternative to foreign allies and Turkish voters.
A May 28 runoff could give Erdogan time to regroup and reframe the debate.
But he will still be reeling from Turkey’s worst economic crisis in power, and will be troubled by his government’s tumultuous response to a February earthquake that killed more than 50,000.
“We all lost democracy,” Kilic Daroglu said after voting in the capital Ankara.
‘Can’t see my future’
Pre-election polls indicated that the conservative Ogloo would win the youth vote – about 10% of the electorate – by a margin of two to one.
“I can’t see my future,” 18-year-old university student Kevank Dal told JEE News in Istanbul on the eve of voting.
Erdogan “can build as many tanks and weapons as he wants, but until I have a penny in my pocket, I don’t respect him”.
But nursery school teacher Deniz Edemir said Erdogan would get his vote because Turkey had made economic and social progress after half a century of corruption-riddled secular rule.
The 46-year-old also questioned how the country could be governed by a six-party coalition, Erdogan’s favorite line of attack during the election campaign.
“Yes, prices are high… but at least there is prosperity,” he said.
As election day approached, Erdogan’s campaign became more in tune with his core supporters.
Erdogan’s ministers and pro-government media spoke of a Western “political coup” plot.
The opposition began to worry that Erdogan was plotting to hold on to power at any cost.
Erdogan was asked on television Friday night if he would agree to quit if he lost.
“That’s a very stupid question,” he snapped. “We will do what democracy requires.”
