President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (69) took the lead in the presidential election held on the 14th (local time), but with less than 50% of the vote, a runoff was inevitable.
According to media outlets such as TRT, at 11:30 pm (5:30 am on the 15th, Korean time), when 92% of the votes were counted, President Erdogan raised 49.76% of the vote, falling below the majority.
The single opposition candidate, Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kultzdaroglu (74), recorded 44.49% of the vote, narrowing the gap to President Erdogan by 5.37%.
In the first round of the presidential election, if Erdogan maintains a majority of the vote, the election will be confirmed.
However, if the vote rate does not exceed 50%, on May 28, President Erdogan and CEO Cults Daroglu will hold a run-off to determine the winner.
Although it was a presidential election in which four candidates ran, it was actually a confrontation between President Erdogan and Klitzdaroglu, who was nominated by six opposition parties.
Opinion polls conducted before the election showed that Cults Daroglu had a slight lead over President Erdogan, but it was a close race.
Representative Kultz Daroglu cast his vote at 11:30 a.m. in Ankara, the capital. After voting, when he expressed his feelings, “Spring is coming in Turkey,” the crowd of supporters cheered.
After voting in Istanbul around noon, President Erdogan urged participation in the vote, saying, “It is important to go to the polling station to show that the democracy of Turkey is strong.”
Amid the prospect of a narrow gap that would have to go to the final vote, President Erdogan and Representative Klitzdaroglu could not hide their tension even after the end of the voting and the beginning of the counting.
Representative Klitzdaroglu urged the opposition election monitoring agents to “stay at the ballot box until the end” via Twitter.
It is because they are concerned about some fraudulent elections in the past. President Erdogan also made a similar request to his supporters.
President Erdogan has led the state affairs of Turkey for 20 years since 2003 as Prime Minister and President.
In the meantime, Turkey has been placed in the ranks of major emerging countries as a member of the G20, and has recently demonstrated its presence in the defense industry and diplomacy.
In the Ukraine crisis that started at the end of February last year, he showed off his political skills by mediating grain exports from Ukraine while talking with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, the number of people who are dissatisfied with the strong-armed rule has also increased significantly, such as inflation exceeding 40%, insufficient response to the February earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people, and the arrest or expulsion of critical figures from public office.
Representative Klitz Daroglu moved the hearts of voters with a slogan to put an end to ‘one-man rule’ and a pledge to expand democracy.
He appealed for the normalization of the economy by limiting the presidential authority and restoring the independence of the central bank.
In addition to this, CEO Klitz Daroglu promised to improve relations with the western camp by turning away from the pro-Russian Erdogan policy in diplomacy.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.