Erdogan loses his majority in the presidential elections and will have to go to the second round, according to the media

2023-05-15 02:05:42

The President of Turkey, the Islamist Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has won the presidential elections today, but without the absolute majority necessary to avoid a second round in two weeks against the opposition candidate, the Social Democrat Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, when 90% of the votes have been counted. the polls.

The official Anadolu agency gives Erdogan, who has been in power for two decades, 49.9% of the votes, very similar to that granted by ANKA, a private mediumwhile the applicant would have between 44 and 45%.

A third candidate, the nationalist Sinan Ogan, achieved 5% of the ballots.

Kiliçdaroglu’s party, the CHP, has accused Anadolu during the count of not giving reliable data and the AKP of having been blocking the counting of the ballotschallenging the acts in areas where the opposition is strongest.

In this sense, the candidate himself asked his auditors and the volunteers who participate in the count that “don’t leave your posts” to ensure that the count is done correctly.

The mayor of Ankara, the social democrat Mansur Yavas, has assured that when the total count of the big cities is included, the opposition candidate will have the absolute majority to win the presidential elections already in this first round.

Erdogan criticized the CHP for disclosing results before the official announcement of the count, and also asked his table delegates not to abandon the count.

“While the elections were held in such a positive and democratic atmosphere and the counting of votes is still ongoing, attempting to announce the results hastily means usurping the national will,” said the president.

In the parliamentary elections, which are also being held today, the alliance formed around the AKP, Erdogan’s Islamist party, would have 50% of the votes and 325 of the 600 deputies in Parliament, with which it would maintain the absolute majority that it has had for 20 years.

The CHP and its allies would obtain 34% and 215 deputies, and the leftist and pro-Kurdish party HDP and its allies would have 60, when 82% of the polls have already been opened.