After counting 99.4% of the ballots, Erdogan leads with 49.4% of the vote, while Kılıçdaroğlu has 45%, Ahmet Yener, head of the Central Election Commission, told reporters.
However, both sides say they are in the lead and dispute the numbers, warning against premature conclusions in a deeply polarized country that sits at a political crossroads.
Seen as a verdict on Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian rule, the vote was expected to give his ruling alliance a parliamentary majority that could give it a potential lead ahead of the May 28 second round, which leads a six-party alliance opposition, a slight advantage. Two polls on May 12 even showed that he would cross the 50% threshold.
The vote in the presidential election will not only determine who leads Turkey, a NATO member country of 85 million people, but also whether it returns to a more secular and democratic path; how it will cope with a severe cost of living crisis; and how it will maintain key relations with Russia, the Middle East and the West.
“Erdogan will have an advantage in the second round of elections after his alliance performed much better than the opposition alliance. I expect … big currency swings in the next couple of weeks,” Hakan said. Akbas, managing director of the political consulting firm Strategic Advisory Services.
According to another vote count released by ANKA, over 99% of the ballots counted give Erdogan a 49.26% lead over Kılıçdaroğlu with 45.04% of the vote.
Meanwhile, fans on both sides celebrated the win.
Thousands of Erdogan voters gathered outside the party headquarters in Ankara.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the current results showed him well ahead of candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in the May 14 presidential election, but no did not declare an outright victory. polls, Erdogan said votes cast abroad were still counted and he was ahead of his opponent by 2.6 million votes.
In a speech to a cheering crowd outside the headquarters of his AKP party, Erdogan said he would respect the people’s decision if voting in the presidential election went to a second round.
Turkey’s opposition presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said he would take the decision of the people to hold a second round, adding that President Erdogan did not achieve the result he expected in the presidential election . Speaking alongside leaders of other parties in his alliance, Kılıçdaroğlu said he would win against Erdoğan in the second round of elections.
The Turks also voted for a new parliament. The outcome of the People’s Alliance, made up of Erdogan’s Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) and nationalist MHP, was better than expected and could win a majority.
After tallying 93% of the vote, Erdogan’s alliance wins 324 seats in the 600-seat parliament. The Kılıçdaroğlu National Alliance, made up of six opposition parties, including its Republican People’s Party (CHP), founded by Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, has 211 seats.
The Labor and Freedom Alliance, led by the pro-Kurdish Left Green Party, could win 65 seats in parliament.
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