Recep Tayyip Erdogan finished sprinting on election day by handing out money to his supporters outside the polling stations. The vote count has begun in the fateful election that will determine whether it will be Erdogan or his opponent Kemal Kılıçdaroglu who takes home the presidential election.
Whoever wins gets five years in power – and a difficult economic situation, a refugee crisis and a Swedish NATO application on the table.
The votes have begun to be counted after the polling stations closed at 4 p.m. Swedish time, and already tonight a result is expected to be presented after the second round of elections between the two top candidates.
Erdogan’s coalition in parliament has already won a majority in the first round of elections, making it a difficult environment for opponent Kılıçdaroglu to navigate should he win.
Erdogan’s support has declined
Incumbent President Erdogan’s popularity has fallen sharply since the last election – in previous elections he easily won over 50 percent of the vote directly, which has meant that there was no need to hold a second round of elections.
The economic situation with rampant inflation, fake buildings that collapsed in the extensive earthquakes earlier this year and an increasingly criticized refugee situation have angered voters who turned to the opposition. Despite that, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is still expected to win today’s election, according to most observers’ guesses.