Turkey heading to first ever run-off vote
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Turkey is heading on Monday to the first run-off vote with both rivals candidates Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kemal Kılıcdaroglu failing to hit 50 percent threshold to win the presidential race outright.
The state-owned Anadolu news agency said that the 69 Erdogan led the race with 49.35 percent of the votes and Kilicdaroglu 45.0 percent, with almost 98% of ballot boxes counted.
The run-off vote is to be held on May 28.
Speaking in the early hours of Monday, Erdogan said he believed he had enough votes to win outright but said he would accept a runoff, and accused unnamed others of trying to “deceive the nation” by claiming they were in the lead.
As for Kılıcdaroglu, he said, “Despite all of his lies and attacks, Erdoğan did not receive the desired outcome. No one should be enthusiastic about this being a done deal. The election is not won on the balcony.”
“If our nation says second round, we will absolutely win the second round,” he told reporters.
The number of the registered voters in the country of 85 million people has reached 64 million.
Turkey’s longest-serving leader Erdogan in the former presidential election of 2018 won the first run with 52.5 percent of the vote.