Turkey headed for a runoff vote after President Tayyip Erdogan led over his opposition rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu in Sunday’s election but fell short of an outright majority to extend his 20-year rule of the NATO-member country.
Erdogan’s lead against his challenger from the opposition, Kilicdaroglu, in the May 14 presidential election has narrowed to 4.35 percentage points after 99.86% of ballot boxed were counted, state-run TRT television reported on Monday.
Erdogan has 49.34% of the vote, compared to 44.99% garnered by Kilicdaroglu. The third candidate, the leader of the ATA Alliance, Sinan Ogan, has secured the support of 5.23% of voters.
The gap between Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu stood at less than 4.5 percentage points after 99.2% of votes were counted.
The winner in the first round must get 50% plus one vote, otherwise a runoff will take place on May 28.
The general elections were held amid tight security in Turkey on Sunday. More than 53 million people cast their votes.
The presidential vote will decide not only who leads Turkey but also whether it reverts to a more secular, democratic path, how it will handle its severe cost of living crisis, and manage key relations with Russia, the Middle East and the West.
Kilicdaroglu, who said he would prevail in the runoff, urged his supporters to be patient and accused Erdogan’s party of interfering with the counting and reporting of results.
But Erdogan performed better than pre-election polls had predicted, and he appeared in a confident and combative mood as he addressed his supporters.
“We are already ahead of our closest rival by 2.6 million votes. We expect this figure to increase with official results,” Erdogan said.
Thousands of Erdogan voters converged on the party’s headquarters in Ankara, blasting party songs from loudspeakers and waving flags. Some danced in the street.
“We know it is not exactly a celebration yet but we hope we will soon celebrate his victory. Erdogan is the best leader we had for this country and we love him,” said Yalcin Yildrim, 39, who owns a textile factory.