The results of the Turkish elections will most likely be decided only in the second round

The next Turkish president will probably be decided only in the second round of elections. According to the state agency Anadolu, the current president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is still leading in the first round of the elections, but after counting roughly 90 percent of the precincts, his victory has fallen below 50 percent. The ANKA agency, which is quoted by the opposition media, attributes the result to Erdogan as well. According to both agencies, the second is opposition candidate Kemal Kiliçdaroglu. If it is confirmed that none of the candidates received more than 50 percent of the votes in the first round, a second round of elections will be held on Sunday, May 28.

According to interim results reported by Anadolu, Erdogan has roughly 49.8 percent of the vote after counting roughly 90 percent of precincts. His profit gradually decreases during the census. On the contrary, the percentage gain of the opposition candidate Kiliçdaroglu, who according to these data now has 44.4 percent of the vote, is increasing. The third candidate, former far-right MP Sinan Ogan, now has 5.3 percent of the vote.

The ANKA agency, cited by the opposition media, shows that roughly 90 percent of precincts have been counted. According to her, Erdogan has 49 percent of the vote and Kiliçdaroglu 45.2 percent. Gradually, the differences between the data of the two agencies are decreasing.

Opposition leaders say Kiliçdaroglu is leading in the polls. In the evening, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu expressed his belief that it will be possible to elect an opposition candidate as the new president today. His Republican People’s Party (CHP) said Kiliçdaroglu won 51.5 percent of the vote. However, the origin of the data published by the opposition is not clear. Polls published shortly before the election showed that opposition candidate Kiliçdaroglu has a chance to win the first round of the presidential election.

In his first statement after the end of the vote, Erdogan criticized the opposition’s actions. “Trying to announce the results hastily means usurping the will of the people,” Erdogan said. “We will not sleep tonight,” Kiliçdaroglu said in a statement. Both politicians called on their supporters to watch the counting of votes.

The statement of the highest electoral body YSK is still awaited. According to AP, the bureau said it is providing census data to the parties and will make an official statement when the census is complete. According to the BBC, this could happen within a few hours.

According to the ANKA and Anadolu agencies, Erdogan’s bloc with the dominant Justice and Development Party (AKP) has the upper hand in the parliamentary elections so far, with a gain of around 50 percent of the vote. The second is the alliance around Kiliçdaroglu, and the alliance of left-wing and pro-Kurdish parties would also get into parliament. About 85 percent of the votes have now been counted in the parliamentary elections.

According to Reuters, Erdogan was expected to have the upper hand with the first precincts counted, as the smallest and fastest-counted precincts are in rural Turkey, where the incumbent president enjoys strong support. According to the first data, participation in the elections reached 88 percent.

After the end of voting at 16:00 CET, the highest electoral authority stated that the voting took place without incident. Some representatives of the opposition drew attention to minor skirmishes. Both the government and the opposition called on their supporters to supervise the counting of votes.