Turkish FM expects Erdogan to gain over 56% in 2nd round
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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is confident that the incumbent president will win another term, given the voter turnout during the first round and Sinan Ogan's recent announcement both fall in Erdogan's favor.
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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, center, speaks with Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics, second left, during a round table meeting of Resolute Support at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015. (AP)
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu expects that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will gain more than 56% of the votes during the run-off elections, after outrunning opposition candidate Kemal KIlicdaroglu, during the first round.
"In the first round, 49.5% is a figure that every leader in the world cannot even dream of. As a result, the people showed their goodwill, but in the second round, as you can see, more than 56% will vote for the incumbent president. Polls are showing the development in this direction."
People abroad are eager to vote," Cavusoglu told Turkish broadcaster TV100 on Tuesday.
The first round's third-placed candidate, Sinan Ogan, announced on Monday his support for Erdogan in the upcoming runoff and called on his supporters to vote for the incumbent president.
He announced last week a series of conditions that would determine his decision to support any of the candidates, and also demanded that no ministerial seats be given to members of the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party, which he said is a political wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is designated as a terrorist organization in Turkey.
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During the first round, Erdogan received 49.52% of the vote, and Kilicdaroglu received 44.88%. Ogan came in third with over 5%, making him a potential maker in the second round on May 28.
Earlier last week, Erdogan felt confident in emerging victorious in the next round of presidential elections after falling less than half of a percent short as counting was finalized.
Erdogan said on Twitter, "The 14 May elections, one of the elections with the highest participation in our history, took place in a festive atmosphere befitting our democracy."
Tarihimizin en yüksek katılımlı seçimlerinden biri olan 14 Mayıs seçimleri, aziz milletimizin basiret ve ferasetiyle demokrasimize yakışır bir şölen havası içinde gerçekleşmiştir.…
— Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) May 15, 2023
Although the President was unable to secure the win in the first round, marking the country's first-ever run-off, which Turkey's Supreme Elections Council scheduled for May 28, Erdogan believed that the election marked a victory for "Turkish democracy and the Turkish Nation."
Read next: Turkey's runoff elections: a precognitive outcome?
On the other hand, despite Erdogan's statements, Kilicdaroglu said that he is certain he will be winning the runoff election against incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"We will certainly win the runoff election, and everyone knows that," the Turkish opposition figure said. "Erdogan could not obtain what he wanted despite all his slander and insults." "There was a huge voter turnout, and no one can make claims to victory," the leading Turkish opposition figure said.
"The results revealed that Erdogan could not garner the trust of the people, and the votes for the Justice and Development Party have declined," he added.
