Erdogan wins in Turkey with more than six points advantage and will exceed 20 years in power

The current president of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip erdoğanrevalidates his position for five more years after winning the second round of the Turkish presidential elections with a 52.14% of the vote. The opposition candidate, Kemal kilicdaroglu has had the 47.85% in a tight pulse that leaves a divided country, but that will see how Erdogan continues at the head of the republic after 20 consecutive years in power.

Electoral participation, which on May 14 registered a record number of 88%, has been equally high in this second round, with 85% of voters who have gone to the polls in a day that has developed without setbacks. When Erdogan’s victory was clear, his supporters began to celebrate in front of the presidential palace.

The first world leader to congratulate Erdogan was the emir of qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. He has done it through Twitter despite the fact that the official results were not yet closed. He has been followed by the Prime Minister of Hungary, Victor Orbánwho has also published a congratulatory message on the social network for the “incontestable electoral victory”.

An intense electoral pulse

The first round of the presidential elections showed that Erdogan, although victorious with 49.52%, needed a second round for the first time to prevail against the opponent Kilicdaroglu, who obtained 44.88% of the vote in the election on May 14. However, Erdogan started as favorite facing the second round due to the victory of his electoral alliance in the Assembly and the support given to him by the third presidential candidate, the far-right Sinan Ogan -eliminated in the first round- encouraging his voters to support the president.

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During the past two weeks of the campaign, both candidates have adapted their strategy and their electoral messages to ensure their victory. On the one hand, Erdogan emphasized the National unity using a positive and conciliatory tone. For his part, Kilicdaroglu took a nationalist turn in a speech much tougher against refugees, vowing to expel them allin an attempt to appeal to Ogan voters.

As explained Middle East Eye, the voters of the far-right Ogan have divided the vote in this second round. Ogan had presented himself as the leader of a coalition of ultranationalist parties and, although he publicly endorsed Erdogan, umit ozdag, head of another party in that coalition, backed Kilicdaroglu. That would explain why the president’s advantage was not higher than his opponent.