This election may be the biggest challenge Recep Tayyip Erdogan (69) has faced since he became president of Turkey 20 years ago. Six opposition parties have gathered around Kemal Kiliçdaroglu (74), who has been closely aligned with Erdogan in the opinion polls. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that he has accepted a re-election if he does not tip more than 50 percent in the presidential election. – We do not know if the election is over in the first round. If our nation decides to go to a second round, I will respect that too. But I think we will end this round with more than 50% of the votes, there are still votes to be counted, says Erdogan in a speech on Monday night. He also claimed that he had gained a majority in parliament, and thanked his voters for that, writes the BBC. In short: Neither President Erdogan nor his rival Kilicdaroglu has received more than 50 percent of the vote. There will therefore be a re-election in a few weeks. Turkey’s third presidential candidate has not chosen a side yet, he will announce in a few days whether he will support Erdogan or Kilicdaroglu. The head of the Electoral Commission, Ahmet Yener, announced the first preliminary results just before 2 a.m. on Monday Norwegian time. Ahmet Yener, head of Turkey’s High Electoral Commission (YSK), speaks to the media in Ankara, Turkey on May 15, 2023 Photo: Reuters He says that more than 91.93% of the votes have now been counted. Based on these results, Erdogan is ahead with 49.4% of the vote, while Kilicdaroglu has 44.96%. – As it stands now, it will be close, and the count may take a long time, says Einar Wigen, Turkey expert and professor at the University of Oslo. Turkey expert Einar Wigen is present at the vigil in Oslo on Sunday. Photo: University of Oslo – People have a tendency to over-interpret the smallest thing that comes from either side. We have quite contradictory counts where the state news agency shows the president very high and everyone else seems to show him far lower. If it happens that none of the candidates gets more than 50 per cent of the votes, the people must gather for a new round in two weeks, i.e. Sunday 28 May. It is Turkey’s two largest news agencies that report the results of the presidential election. President Erdogan met the crowd outside his residence in Istanbul late Sunday evening. Photo: MURAT CETINMUHURDAR/PPO / Reuters Ogan can make a big difference The third presidential candidate in the presidential election, Sinan Ogan, will announce whether he will give his support to Erdogan or Kilicdaroglu. He got around 5 percent of the vote, according to the state news agency Anadolu and news agency Anka. His decision can make a big difference – I will talk to the leaders in my alliance, I will go and ask my voters in the next couple of days. And then we will decide and carry out our duty in the next 14 days, says Ogan. Ogan’s decision can make a big difference Photo: Reuters Ogan said on Turkish Fox News that Kilicdaroglu has had far too much self-confidence in this election campaign, and that Kilicdaroglu must choose between himself and the Kurds. Kilicdaroglu has received support from Kurds who have not put forward their own presidential candidate. The nationalist presidential candidate said he would not support anyone who has the support of Kurds. Owes the opposition for a political coup The Turkish government owes the opposition on Sunday night for attempting a political coup, by announcing the election results while the ballots are still being counted. The spokesperson for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Ömer Celik, says that the party’s biggest rival, the Republican Party (CHP), has taken a dictatorial approach to the election results. Ömer Celik is spokesperson for the AKP. Photo: ADEM ALTAN / AFP – Given that the election was held in such a positive and democratic atmosphere and that the vote counting is still going on, hastening the announcement of the results is the same as undermining the national will, Erdogan said earlier on Sunday. – We will not sleep tonight, tweeted Kiliçdaroglu later in the evening, and demanded that all ballots be included in the count. Party colleague Imamoglu also urges people not to believe the words from the state news agency. The governing authorities refer to the statement from the state news agency Anadolu (AA), while the opposition refers to the private news agency ANKA. The government has also asked for the votes to be counted again in several districts where the CHP has been the strongest party, which means that these figures are not yet included in the total. A ballot box in the capital Ankara must have been required to be recounted nine times. The Norwegian-Turkish shoemaker Deniz Kaya and several others have gathered at Youngs in central Oslo to follow the Turkish election. – No longer intimidated by people like Erdogan If there is a change of power, challenger Kiliçdaroglu has promised to turn foreign policy away from personal power and governance. He says he wants dialogue, not confrontation. Turks walk through the ruins of buildings that were demolished by an earthquake earlier this year. Securing buildings against future disasters has been a central theme during the election campaign. Photo: CAN EROK / AFP Resident Şahin Çeltikçi in Istanbul tells news that he feels hopeful while they wait for the result. – Kiliçdaroglu will win, he says, and adds that he hopes it will happen without any “trouble”. – We are more excited and hopeful this time. The ruling powers have been crushing people for more than 20 years. We are no longer intimidated by people like Erdogan. news also meets Hediye Bilge with her daughter and dog outside a polling station in Istanbul. Aye Geylani (left) and mora Hediye Bilge (right). Photo: Øzgur Arslan She does not seem certain that Erdogan will accept defeat, if the result is as follows, but says she hopes he will step down democratically. – I hope we can start with a blank slate in Turkey, she says. Large turnout on election day On Sunday, Turkey will hold both a parliamentary election and a presidential election. One must therefore not only confirm who will rent the land in the future, but also how it will be governed. Among other things, the result will be decisive for what happens to the Turkish economy, which has been hit hard by the cost of living crisis in Europe. 64 million Turks had the opportunity to vote today, and 5 million of these were first-time voters, aged 18 to 22. The turnout on election day must have been relatively high. Kiliçdaroglu has become known for his heart symbol during the election campaign. Photo: YASIN AKGUL / AFP In the run-up to the election, the leading party AKP has promised, among other things, higher pension payments, better scholarships for students, some support for electricity bills and better access to low-interest loans. One of the biggest selling points of the opposition is to reduce the power of the sitting president and return to a parliamentary system in Turkey. 200,000 observers present The digital result is predicted for around midnight tonight, while the physical votes (around a fifth) can be counted right up until Tuesday. The Turkish charity Oy ve Otesi (“vote and more”) has developed an app that can read the election results. A supporter of Kiliçdaroglu reacts to the preliminary results on Sunday evening. Photo: YVES HERMAN / Reuters By taking a picture of the finished result and uploading it to the app, the volunteers can check whether the official numbers presented are correct. – What can they do if they discover cheating? – Nothing. We are only observers, and we have no power to intervene, answers leader Ertim Orkun to news. Altogether, there will be around 200,000 observers present at the venue. Members of the CHP party follow the vote counting on the big screen. Photo: YASIN AKGUL / AFP Around 70,000 of these belong to Oy ve Otesi, while others are from the major Turkish parties and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). But it probably won’t be a fair process, believes leader Orkun. – The candidates have been given different places in the media. The Kurdish party risks being banned, and politicians such as the mayor of Istanbul were not allowed to remain silent due to the threat of being imprisoned. – So it’s not fair. But we try to ensure the implementation itself on election day, in any case.
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Erdogan received the most votes in Turkey – there will be a new round of elections – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
