A runoff in Türkiye’s presidential election looks increasingly likely
Journalists watch the election results at the headquarters of Republican People’s Party, CHP, in Ankara, Turkey, May 14, 2023 © AP
The gap between the incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his pro-Western opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, has narrowed with more than 90 percent of the votes counted by midnight in Türkiye’s presidential election, according to state media reports.
With more than 95% of ballot boxes opened and tallied, Erdogan’s initially comfortable lead has fallen to 49.5% of the vote – just below the 50% majority needed to avoid a runoff, according to Anadolu. His main opposition rival Kilicdaroglu was getting 44,6%, while Sinan Ogan was a distant third with 5.2%.
Turnout was high at almost 89% in Türkiye and over 52% for those registered to vote abroad. While the majority of domestic votes are already counted, most of the ballots cast outside of the country are yet to be tallied. The breakdown may also change depending on how the election body would deal with the votes cast for Muharrem Ince, who had withdrawn from the race, but nevertheless received around 0.5%.
The Supreme Election Council has yet to finalize the count and announce official results, but if no candidate wins at least half of the vote, a run-off will be held on May 28. The head of the election body, Ahmet Yener, dismissed accusations from the opposition that it was delaying the results, saying on Sunday night that the data is being entered into the system and shared with political parties “instantaneously.”
