• Wide Angle Turkey decides at the polls between the continuity or the end of Erdogan's mandate
  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan The authoritarian drift of a leader who has changed Turkey
  • Kemal Kiliçdaroglu The eternal opponent of Erdogan who could change the country

The confusion centers the initial results of the presidential and parliamentary elections that Turkey has held this Sunday. The partial vote count, published by the official Anadolu news agency, with 50% of the votes counted, signals a clear victory for the current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with 51.96% of the vote, while the main opposition candidate, the Social Democrat Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, has 42.19%.

The opposition rejected the results offered by the news agency and pointed out that the data that his party (CHP) has at the table, indicate a clear victory of Kiliçdaroglu at the polls. In a statement to reporters, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a member of the opposition coalition, said members of Erdogan's Islamist AKP party have objected to the results in many schools across the country to slow down the voting process. "You don't load the data into the system because (the AKP) makes objections. This increases manipulation, but we are here." Imamoglu said the opposition coalition "is clearly ahead" and asked for patience from the population while waiting for the official results. Shortly after, AKP spokesman Ömer Çelik criticized the opposition's words and said Erdogan is clearly ahead in the count.

After the words of the opposition, some channels have begun to show only the vote count sealed by the electoral board, which shows the opposition in the lead with a minimal difference: 47.71% for Kiliçdaroglu and 46.51% for Erdogan.

Despite the confusion, Erdogan's percentage has been deflating as the counting progressed and it is likely that neither candidate will reach 50% of the vote, so both will go to the second round in two weeks. A third presidential candidate, ultranationalist Sinan Ogan, would get about 5% of the vote.

The voting process passed calmly and with specific incidents such as citizens who tried to vote twice, according to opposition parties. As expected, the participation increased slightly compared to the 2018 elections, with 88.49%, compared to 86% in the previous elections.

  • Turkey
  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan
  • Europe

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Learn more