Turkish elections: Current President Erdoğan claims victory

Ankara. Turkey’s current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed his victory in the country’s second round of presidential elections on Sunday. In his first remarks since the election, Erdoğan spoke to supporters on a campaign bus outside his home in Istanbul. “I thank each and every member of our nation for entrusting me once again with the responsibility of governing this country for the next five years,” he said. Erdoğan mocked his rival Kemal Kelichdaroğlu, saying, “Bye baya baya, Kamal.” He said, “Today only Turkey is the winner.” Early and unofficial results of Turkey’s second-round presidential election released by multiple news agencies show 98 percent of ballots have been counted and incumbent President Erdoğan is ahead of his nearest rival Kemal by a few votes.

Turkey’s state news agency Anadolu showed Erdoğan got 52.1 percent of the vote, while Kemal got 47.9 percent. Meanwhile, the NNKA news agency, close to the opposition, said Kemal won 48.1 percent of the vote, while Erdoğan got 51.9 percent. Erdogan’s supporters in Istanbul have started celebrating even before the final results were announced. They are waving Turkish or ruling party flags and honking car horns. News agencies are collecting data through their personnel. Turkey’s electoral board sends its data to political parties during vote counting but does not announce official results until days later.

The impact of the election result will also be felt outside Ankara, as Turkey is located between Europe and Asia and is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The election results this time will determine whether President Erdoğan, who has been in power for a long time, will continue the autocratic rule of the country or his main rival Kamal, who has promised to restore a more democratic society, will take power. In the first round of elections held in the country on May 14, no candidate could get the necessary majority to form the government. Voting for the second round of elections began at 8 am on Sunday. There are no exit polls in Turkey, but preliminary results were expected within hours of the polls closing at 5 p.m.

More than six crore 40 lakh voters were eligible to exercise their franchise in this election. Talking to reporters after casting his vote in Istanbul, President Erdoğan said that this is the first presidential election in the history of Turkey, in which the second round of voting has been held. Kamal, a 74-year-old former bureaucrat, described the second round of voting as a referendum on the country’s future. Erdogan has been in power in Turkey for the last 20 years. The first round of voting narrowly missed the majority required for victory. Erdoğan was ahead of his rival Kemal by four percentage points in the first round. Kamal is the candidate of a coalition of six parties and the centre-left main opposition party.

Disclaimer:IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.