Türkiye, heading for a second round of elections with Erdogan ahead

Turkey is heading this Monday, for the first time in its history, towards a second electoral round on May 28 between the outgoing president, the Islamoconservative Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his main rival, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, a social democrat.

The final results of the presidential and legislative votes held on Sunday are not yet known. That day, the 64 million Turkish voters turned out en masse to the polls, bringing the provisional participation rate to almost 90%.

After the scrutiny of more than 99% of the votes, Erdogan collected 49.4%, and his main opponent 44.95%; a better result than expected for the head of state, whom the latest polls placed at a disadvantage.

Instead, to the opposition, which on Sunday claimed to be “in head”, these figures hit him like a cold shower.

“If our nation says runoff, we will absolutely win in the runoff.Kiliçdaroglu, who leads a broad coalition of six opposition parties, said early Monday morning, stating that “the will for change in society is greater than 50%”.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, re-elected in 2018 in the first round of the presidential elections, also appeared on Sunday night before a crowd of supporters.

“I sincerely believe that we will continue to serve our people in the next five years.”, Launched Erdogan, who has been in power since 2003. In recent weeks, he has made several electoral promises aimed at curbing the high inflation that is plaguing the country.

In addition, his formation, the Justice and Development Party (AKP, Islamoconservative), seems to be in a position to retain its majority in Parliament.

Amid this uncertainty, the Istanbul Stock Exchange index was down 4% this Monday morning.

“Erdogan will win”

The outcome of the second round will depend in part on a third man, the nationalist Sinan Ogan, who collected about 5% of the vote on Sunday. At the moment, he has not yet called his supporters to vote for either of the two candidates.

In the Sishan neighborhood, in Istanbul, residents expressed conflicting opinions this Monday regarding the verdict that the polls will give on May 28.

For Betul Yilmaz, 26, “Kiliçdaroglu can win if he allies with Sinan Ogan”.

“But it will be close”, predicted the woman, covered in a black veil.

“Tayyip Erdogan will win. He is a true leader, the Turks trust him and he has a vision for Turkey”, affirmed instead Hamdi Kurumahmut, 40, an employee in the tourism sector.

“Of course, there are things that need to be improved, in the economy, education or refugee reception policies. But we know that he is the one who can solve all that”, defended the man.

Late into the night, both sides waged a battle of numbers, urging their respective observers to remain at the vote counting locations.”until the end”.

Kiliçdaroglu’s side did not take long to refute the first figures, which gave Erdogan a comfortable advantage, stating that the results of the most favorable polling stations for the opposition candidate had not yet been counted due to the multiple appeals presented, which slowed down the counting. .

But for the Erdogan-friendly daily Sabah, the fact that the outgoing president was in first position on Sunday already represents “a tremendous success”.

Source: AFP