Turkey’s head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to lead the presidential elections in Turkey, according to forecasts. The incumbent party received 57.1 percent of the vote in Sunday’s second round, the state-run Anadolu News Agency reported after counting more than 40 percent of the votes cast. His challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu comes to 42.9 percent.
However, a race arose at the Anka agency, which is close to the opposition. This put Kilicdaroglu ahead with about 51 percent, Erdogan came out at about 49 percent. Polling stations in Turkey closed at 4 p.m. (CEST) on Sunday. Incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 69, emerged as the favorite in the polls after narrowly missing out on an absolute majority in the first round two weeks ago.
His opponent, 74-year-old opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, joined a six-party alliance. There were about 2.5 million votes between Erdogan and his opponent in the first round. Partly because of the government’s media dominance, the election campaign was perceived as unfair.
Attacks on pollsters
According to reports, there were attacks on election workers. Several opposition CHP politicians reported physical attacks against themselves and election workers. CHP politician Ali Seker said he and opposition election officials were targeted by a group in Sanliurfa province after complaining about irregularities.
There were also reports of attacks from Istanbul, Mardin and Diyarbakir. Supporters of Erdogan are said to have attacked a police officer in a polling place, unverified images circulating on the internet that are supposed to show the incident (see tweet above). For his part, after polls closed, the head of the election authority said there had been no “negative developments” so far.
Erdogan has become increasingly authoritarian in 20 years
Erdogan has been in power for 20 years. Since the introduction of a presidential system in 2018, he has more power than ever before. Critics fear the country, with a population of about 85 million, could slide completely into autocracy if he wins again. Kilicdaroglu promises to democratize the country. Internationally, the mood in the NATO country is closely monitored.
About 61 million people were called to vote in Turkey. Eligible voters in Austria and other countries have already voted. Sunday was also the anniversary of the 2013 Gezi protests that criticized the government.
Source: Krone
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