According to the preliminary results, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is ahead. But he just missed an absolute majority. On May 28, the candidates have to go to a run-off election.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has to go to the runoff. Erdoğan missed an absolute majority in the first round of the presidential election, the electoral authorities in Ankara announced on Monday. According to the preliminary final result, opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was just behind him, which means that neither candidate received more than 50 percent of the votes and there will be a runoff election on May 28.
Preliminary final result: Erdoğan is available
According to the electoral authority, Erdoğan received 49.51 percent of the votes, while opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu got 44.88 percent. Sinan Ogan (5.17 percent) from the ultra-nationalist Ata Alliance came in a distant third. The results of the parliamentary elections held at the same time were not initially available. The state news agency Anadolu reported that according to the electoral authority, the turnout in Germany was 88.92 percent and 52.69 percent abroad.
Due to the expected domestic and foreign policy effects, the election in Turkey was considered one of the most important in the world this year. Erdoğan, 69, has been in power for 20 years. Polls had predicted a tight race. Since the introduction of a presidential system in 2018, the president has had far-reaching powers and usually ruled without the 600 parliamentarians.
Erdoğan became prime minister in 2003 and has been president since 2014. During the election campaign, he advertised major projects in the infrastructure and armaments industry. He presented these as successes of his government. In the face of rampant inflation, he promised election gifts such as wage increases for civil servants and public employees.
Opposition leader Kılıçdaroğlu (74) is running for an alliance of six parties with different ideological orientations. Among other things, he promised to abolish the presidential system, to democratize the country and to reduce the massive inflation of around 44 percent.
The election campaign was also marked by the devastating earthquake of February 6 in south-eastern Turkey. Sunday’s vote passed without major incidents.
A total of around 64 million people were called to vote, around 3.4 million of them abroad.
The date for a runoff election is May 28, voters with a Turkish passport in Germany and other countries should be able to cast their votes between May 20 and 24.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
