Probably no change of power – Elections Turkey: According to the first results, Erdogan is in the lead

After counting more than 25 percent of the vote, Erdogan came to about 54 percent, the state news agency Anadolu reported on Sunday evening. Opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu was second with about 40 percent. Kilicdaroglu’s CHP party spokesman Faik Öztrak said the initial data they received was “extremely positive” for the opposition. He accused Anadolu of “manipulation”. Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamogulu (CHP) said early data point to a win for Kilicdaroglu. He called on Turkish voters to ignore Anadolu’s results.

No conclusions yet about the end result
The state agency usually publishes count results in Erdogan strongholds first. It is therefore not yet possible to draw any conclusions about the final result on the basis of the initial data. If neither candidate wins an absolute majority, there will be a second round on May 28. Erdogan recently trailed Kilicdaroglu in polls. Experts assume that the difference in votes is likely to narrow. Turkey’s highest electoral authority had previously lifted a publication ban. Everything must wait until the official preliminary results are announced later, it said.

Erdogan’s party could lose first place in parliament
In addition to the presidential elections, there were also parliamentary elections. Here, Erdogan’s AKP is 32.7 percent behind Kilicdaroglu’s opposition CHP with 34.8 percent, the Halk TV station reported after counting 0.6 percent of the vote.

In contrast, CNN Turk reported that Erdogan’s AKP won 348 seats in Turkey’s 600-seat parliament after ballots from 15 percent of the ballot boxes were counted. The Republican People’s Party (CHP) led by Kilicdaroglu won 133 seats. The alliance of AKP and three other parties can therefore count on about 400 seats and the alliance of CHP and six other opposition parties on 180 seats.

Austria’s election observers expect a high turnout
Austrian members of the National Council are also currently active as OSCE election observers in Turkey. You have the impression that “voter turnout is extremely high,” said SPÖ MP Selma Yildirim of the APA. She attends a primary school in Istanbul’s Üskudar district, says the Tyrolean politician, and the mood at the polling station is “pleasantly calm”, but even in this conservative district there is a “crazy mood for a change”.

It is striking that the opposition parties have been preparing intensively for election day for three years. Yildirim says there are about 200,000 polling stations across Turkey. However, only the secular center-left party CHP deployed half a million volunteers to monitor elections on Election Day. “What is striking is that everywhere we went there were a lot of lawyers,” she continues. The Turkish Bar Association has sent a lawyer to almost every polling station. The count itself is very transparent, Yildirim reports: “Everyone can watch.”

The popularity of the head of state had suffered
Erdogan, who has been in power for more than two decades, is now the most powerful head of state in Turkey since Atatürk. However, its popularity has suffered, in part due to high inflation, which has dramatically increased the cost of living for many Turks. Erdogan recently trailed Kilicdaroglu in polls. He had announced that Turkey would return to a parliamentary democracy, that the power of the president would be curtailed and that the independence of the judiciary would be guaranteed. He also wants to make peacekeeping central to his foreign policy.

“We pray to God for a better future for our country, our nation and Turkish democracy,” Erdogan said during the vote in Istanbul. His opponent, 74-year-old Kilicdaroglu, smiled as he cast his vote in Ankara and appeared to the applause of the waiting crowd. “I express my sincere love and respect for all my citizens who go to the polls and vote,” said Kilicdaroglu. “We all miss democracy so much.”