Runoff election in Turkey
Erdogan is in the lead, narrow victory likely
5/28/2023 5:33 p.m
In Turkey, incumbent Erdogan is ahead in the presidential election. The incumbent will probably have the absolute majority of the votes in the runoff, with around 90 percent of the ballot papers counted.
According to projections, Turkish head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan will lead the presidential election in Turkey. The incumbent received 52.6 percent of the votes in the runoff, according to the state news agency Anadolu after counting almost 92 percent of the ballots cast. His challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu comes to 47.4 percent.
However, at the Anka agency, which is close to the opposition, a head-to-head race emerged. Accordingly, after counting 87 percent of the ballot papers, Erdogan was 50.6 percent, Kilicdaroglu around 49.4. At first Anka had said that the challenger was ahead.
In the first round of elections two weeks ago, none of the candidates had received the required absolute majority. Polls before the first round of elections had put the Social Democratic opposition leader ahead. Contrary to what was predicted, however, Erdogan landed almost five percentage points ahead of Kilicdaroglu in the first ballot and only just missed the absolute majority.
Erdogan then went into the runoff as the clear favorite. Around 61 million people were called to vote in Turkey. Eligible voters in Germany and other countries have already voted.