Turkey’s current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is leading the presidential election next Sunday with 56.67%, when almost 20% of the vote is counted, according to the official Turkish news agency Anatolia.
His main opponent Kemal Kiliçdaroglu follows with 37.41%. The spokesperson for Kilicdaroglu’s centre-left party recalled that the initial results are preliminary and said the “picture is extremely positive” for the opposition.
Most polls expected defeat for Erdogan, who has been in power for 20 years, and predicted a narrow victory for Kiliçdaroglu, who would avoid a runoff in two weeks.
However, it is predictable that neither of them will get an absolute majority in this first round.
In a suffrage where the political survival of the current head of state is at stake, this electoral act will translate into a choice of a model of society between a powerful leader and an opponent who proposes consensus and negotiation.
Polling stations for the election of a president and parliament in Turkey closed today at 3 pm (5 pm local time) and the elections passed without incident.
As of 8 a.m. local time (5 a.m. in Lisbon), about 61 million voters were able to vote in the 192,000 ballot boxes spread across the country’s 81 provinces, with one-sixth of voters in the Istanbul region voting.
Voter turnout has not been disclosed, but several media outlets say turnout in the polls will be higher than usual, in a country where it is normally above 80%.
The Supreme Electoral Council will announce the provisional result tonight, but the final official count will not be released until next Friday.
For the parliamentary elections, 24 parties compete, the majority in coalitions to try to overcome the minimum 7% barrier that allows the election of deputies in the 600-seat Grand National Assembly (Parliament).
Source: DN
