May 15. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Turkish president and candidate for re-election, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has addressed his supporters while the vote count continues, stressing that his candidacy is “clearly ahead” of his rival, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, for which he has expressed that he hopes achieve a majority in these elections.
“Our country has culminated another celebration of democracy with the elections on May 14. Although the exact results are not yet clear, we are well advanced,” he declared at his party’s headquarters in Ankara, according to local media reports.
“The votes abroad have not been fully transferred to our country, the count continues. We believe that it will end in the first round,” the acting president has indicated.
The Turkish leader thanked the vote of the citizens who went to the polls, as well as his voters and attendees at his speech. He has also positively assessed the participation rate in the elections and has highlighted that there have been no significant incidents.
“Our country, our nation has won, Turkey has shown that it is one of the leading democracies in the world with its strong commitment to the will of the nation,” he added.
For the moment, Erdogan has been below 50 percent in the count for the presidential elections, so everything points to a second round between the current president and his main rival, Kiliçdaroglu.
Specifically, Erdogan has achieved 49.37 percent of the vote compared to 44.94 percent for Kiliçdaroglu, according to unofficial data published by the Anatolia public news agency corresponding to 97.08 percent of the vote. Far behind Erdogan and Kiliçdaroglu stands the candidate Sinan Ogan, who would achieve a significant 5.29 percent of the votes and whose support could be key in a second round of the elections.
If no candidate achieves more than 50 percent of the votes, a second round will be held between the two most voted on May 28 to decide the country’s president.
