The CEC of Turkey published the results of the first round of the presidential elections held on May 14 after processing 100% of the ballots. The current President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan scored 49.51%, the candidate from the united opposition Kemal Kılıçdaroglu – 44.88%. It is reported by TRT with reference to the Central Election Commission.
Sinan Oganu got 5.17%, another 0.44% of the votes went to Muharrem Ince. At the same time, the results of more than 35 thousand ballots of voters who voted abroad have not yet been counted.
Since none of the candidates received more than 50% of the votes, a second round of presidential elections will be held, presumably on May 28, Ahmet Yener, head of the Turkish High Electoral Commission, said. Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu will take part in the second round.
Turkey also held parliamentary elections, at the time of writing, 99.55% of the votes were counted. The Republican Alliance, led by Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), is currently gaining 49.3%, that is, about 322 out of 600 seats in parliament. The opposition "People's Alliance" led by the Republican People's Party (CHP) Kılıçdaroglu – 35.19%, or about 212 seats. According to preliminary data, the ruling AKP has 50.49%, while the opposition CHP has 34.55%. Also in the "People's Alliance" of the opposition, in addition to the CHP, 44 seats are received by the "Good Party". The Labor and Freedom Alliance, which includes the Green Left Party (YSP), can count on 66 seats, TRT notes. The ATA Alliance, which nominated Sinan Ogan as a presidential candidate, did not win seats in parliament.
At the same time, Erdogan, even before the completion of the vote count , expressed confidence that he had won more than 50% in the first round. “We don't yet know if the presidential election has ended in the first round due to the limitation of our electoral system to 50% plus one vote. <…> If our people have made a choice in favor of the second round of elections, then this is also the case. We are confident that we have finished this tour with more than 50% of the votes,” he said.
The first round of elections was not without public scandals. So, during the first round, Erdogan handed out money to children right at the polling station where he came to vote. In addition, there were statements about Moscow's interference in the elections. Two days before the vote, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu accused Russia of editing videos that defame candidates, using content made using Deep Fake technology, and conspiracies. “If you want to continue our friendship after May 15, keep your hands off the Turkish state. We still stand for cooperation and friendship,” Kilicdaroglu said. A few days before the first round, candidate Muharrem Inche (Patria Party) abruptly withdrew from the election, explaining that he was doing so because of the publication of a fake sexual photograph. According to Inche, he has been harassed for the past 45 days. He called all the photos and other materials published with him fakes made to prevent him from winning the vote.
Erdogan, in turn, accused the United States of interfering in the elections and recalled that in January 2020, during his campaign, Joe Biden said that Washington should encourage Erdogan's opponents. However, in the same speech, Biden clarified that Erdogan should not be overthrown in a coup.
The Insider previously analyzed how Erdogan tried to shift the attention of the population from domestic issues to foreign policy, what might await Turkey under Kılıçdaroglu, and how relations between Moscow and Ankara would change if the opposition won.