It’s go again. After already two decades at the head of Turkey, outgoing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won the second round of the presidential election, this Sunday, May 28. He obtained 52.1% of the ballots after counting nearly 99% of the votes according to the official Anadolu agency, whose results correspond to those of the Anka agency, close to the opposition. Kemal Kiliçdaroglu won around 47.9% of the vote.
“Our nation has entrusted us with the responsibility of governing the country for the next five years”, declared Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the roof of a bus parked in front of his Istanbul residence, towards which an enthusiastic crowd converged, when claiming his victoire. “We will keep all our promises made to the people […]. This election has shown that no one can attack the achievements of this nation,” he continued. Even before the end of the count, the Turkish president was congratulated on Twitter by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for his re-election.
During the day, the two candidates called on their supporters to watch over the ballot boxes until the final results. “Now is the time to protect the will of our nation until the last moment!” Recep Tayyip Erdogan tweeted as the polls closed at 5 p.m. local time. During the campaign, the outgoing president’s camp constantly described the opposition led by Kiliçdaroglu as “terrorist” because of the support given to it by the leaders of the pro-Kurdish HDP party.
On the evening of the first round, the first results had been the subject of numerous verbal challenges from the opposition, which this time decided to post five scrutineers in front of each ballot box, i.e. a million observers across the country. . President Erdogan, 69, won 49.5% of the vote in the first round on May 14, against 44.9% for his opponent.