Turkish Elections: Erdogan loses absolute majority with 90% of votes counted

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, lost the absolute majority needed for a second round of presidential elections when 90% of votes were counted in Sunday’s elections.

At 23:00 local time (20:00 GMT and 21:00 Lisbon time), the official Anatolia Agency attributed Erdogan, who has been in power for two decades, with 49.94% of the vote, the closest number to ANKA. , a private media outlet, indicated the result, while the opposition candidate, social democrat Kemal Klisateroglu, would have collected between 44% and 45%.

A third candidate, Sinan Ogan, received 5% of the vote.

Counting of votes is still going on

During the counting of ballots, Kılıcedağrüğlu’s party, the CHP (Republican People’s Party), accused the Anatolian agency of not providing reliable information and Erdogan’s AKP (Justice and Development Party) blocked the vote count, prompting minutes in opposition areas. Strong.

Therefore, the opposition candidate himself asked the supporters and volunteers who took part in the polls “not to abandon their posts”.

Ankara’s mayor, Mansur Yavas, a social democrat, said the opposition candidate would have an absolute majority to win the presidential election in this first round when the total number of major cities was included.

Erdogan criticized the CHP for releasing the results before the official announcement of the count, and asked his polling agents not to leave while the votes were being counted.

“Despite the elections being held in such a positive and democratic environment, the counting of votes is still going on and trying to announce the results hastily is a usurpation of the national will,” declared the President.

In today’s legislative elections, Erdogan’s Islamist party, a coalition formed around the AKP, won 50% of the vote and 325 of the 600 parliamentary seats, maintaining its 20-year absolute majority. .

The CHP and its allies won 34% and 215 parliamentary seats, while the left-wing pro-Kurdish party HDP (People’s Democratic Party) and its allies won 60 seats with 82% of the vote.