Erdogan says will finish this round with over 50% of votes

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
15 May 2023 03:16
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Erdogan says the majority of the people supported the AKP's alliance in these elections.

Incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and first lady Emine Erdogan greet the crowd at AK Party headquarters, in the capital Ankara, Turkey, on May 15, 2023 (AA)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that Turkey "has completed another feast of democracy with the 14th of May elections," pointing out that "although the exact results are not clear yet, we are ahead."

In a speech addressed to his supporters at the headquarters of the Justice and Development Party in the Turkish capital, Ankara, Erdogan said the Turkish people "are the winners regardless of the election result."

"We know that we are leading by a wide margin, but we don't know officially what the exact result is because we haven't received it yet," the incumbent President said, adding, "We are waiting for the embodiment of the national will."

Highlighting that Turkey had one of the highest election turnout rates, Erdogan said he believed he "will finish this round with over 50% of the votes" and will "win in first round.”

Balkondayız. 🇹🇷 https://t.co/LyjCMB9koA
— Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) May 14, 2023

"We are already ahead of our closest competitor by 2.6 million votes. I believe that this difference will increase even more with the final results," he told his supporters.

"Throughout our political life, without exception, we have always respected the decision of the national will. We respect it in this election as well, and we will respect it in the next elections," he said.

He underlined that his party was not part of any alliance with "terrorism and terrorists" and takes no instructions from anyone but the people of Turkey.

Erdogan said the majority of the people supported the AKP's alliance in these elections, adding that he respected the Turkish people's decision if they decide to go into a runoff election.

Elsewhere, the incumbent Turkish President said his party will not leave Turkey's renaissance, stability, and democracy in the middle of the road.

Erdogan supporters rally outside AKP office in Istanbul

In the same context, Sputnik reported that a spontaneous rally of supporters of Erdogan is taking place near the office of the ruling party in Istanbul following the presidential election.

Erdogan, who was nominated by the ruling Justice and Development Party and its coalition partner, the Nationalist Movement Party, currently has 49.36% of the votes with 97.23% of the ballots processed. His main challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, put forward by a six-party opposition alliance, has 44.96%.

No delay in election data entry: Turkey supreme electoral board

Earlier, the head of the Turkish elections authority said there are no delays in the entry of data from the Turkish general election that took place on Sunday.

"There are currently no disruptions or delays in data entry by the Supreme Electoral Board," Ahmet Yener told reporters about the results of the general election, a combination of the parliamentary and presidential elections.

The May 14 general election votes are being counted six hours after the polls were closed. Data is being instantly shared with political parties, Yener explained.

This comes after it was announced that the presidential race was heading into a runoff after both parties failed to get over the 50% threshold.

The results of the counted ballots so far show Erdogan at the forefront of the presidential race, mainly against Kilicdaroglu, but with a percentage of votes insufficient to declare him as President from the first round.

According to the TRT network, the preliminary turnout in Turkey's presidential and legislative elections on Sunday exceeded 88% at home and 45% overseas.

A total of 191,885 ballot boxes have been installed around the country, it added.

Every Turkish voter cast two ballots, one for the president and the other for parliamentarians, for a five-year term.

Over 30 Turkish political parties and over 150 independent parliamentary candidates competed in the race.

The People's Alliance, Nation Alliance, Ancestral Alliance, Labor, and Freedom Alliance, and Union of Socialist Forces Alliance were the five multiparty blocs in the running.