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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the end of his election campaign on 27 May in Istanbul

Photo: Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

The presidential election in Turkey was considered a fateful choice for the country. Even before all the votes have been counted, incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has now declared himself the winner. In a balcony speech, he thanked all those who had made it possible for him to govern for the next five years. Erdoğan told cheering supporters in Istanbul: "The only winner is Turkey." He had already gone into the run-off election as the favorite.

Erdoğan has so far received around 55.41 percent of the vote, said the head of the electoral authority, Ahmet Yener, on Sunday evening in Ankara. His challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu received 46.59 percent of the vote. According to the state news agency, after counting almost 99 percent of the votes, the Turkish president received 52 percent, his challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu 48 percent. The pro-opposition Anka agency recorded almost the same figures.

First congratulations from an EU country

Congratulations for Erdoğan have already come from Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani also congratulated the Turkish head of state on his victory even before the official election results were announced. "My dear brother Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, congratulations on your victory," the head of state wrote on Twitter.

Erdoğan has led Turkey for 20 years. Since the introduction of a presidential system in 2018, he has had more power than ever before. It is therefore feared that he will govern even more authoritarian after the election. Turkey is a NATO member, but maintains close relations with Russia as well as Ukraine and is an actor in the Syrian civil war. Accordingly, the election was also followed with great attention internationally.

In the first round two weeks ago, Erdoğan was ahead of Kılıçdaroğlu, but he fell short of an absolute majority. Both therefore competed again in a run-off election. According to Anka and Anadolu, voter turnout was 85 percent for the time being.

Incumbent Erdoğan has had far-reaching powers since the introduction of the presidential system in 2018. Since then, Erdoğan has generally ruled bypassing the 600 parliamentarians. Opposition leader Kılıçdaroğlu ran for an alliance of six parties with different ideological orientations. Above all, they were united by the goal of ending Erdoğan's term in office.

Among other things, Kılıçdaroğlu took office with the promise to abolish the presidential system, democratize the country and reduce massive inflation. The dominant topic before the second round was migration. Both Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu secured the support of right-wing nationalist politicians.

Erdoğan's governing alliance was able to secure an absolute majority in parliament in the elections two weeks ago. Official results are still not available two weeks later due to the processing of numerous appeals.

asc/ulz/dpa/Reuters