Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Turkey. Highlights

On Sunday presidential and parliamentary elections were held in Turkey. This year’s turnout was a record high of 93.6%. The main question was whether the current head of state, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, would retain power. None of the candidates passed the 50% threshold required to win in the first round, but not all votes have been counted yet. Mr. Erdogan gets 49.35%, while Kemal Kilicdaroglu gets 45%. The second round of presidential elections is scheduled for May 28. In the parliamentary elections Mr. Erdogan’s alliance won 49% of the votes, while the opposition coalition got 34%. Presidential elections Turnout at the elections was the highest since 2000, exceeding 88%. At the same time, the opposition said even higher figures - 93.6%. After counting the votes, Recep Tayyip Erdogan gets 49.4%, opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu gets 44.96%, and Ata Alliance candidate Sinan Ogan gets 5.22%. On the evening after the voting ended, Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke at a rally of his supporters in Ankara: the politician said that he was confident in his own victory in the first round of the presidential election, but also ready for the second one. On the same evening, Kemal Kilicdaroglu said that he expects to win the second round, Reuters reported. He urged his supporters to be patient and accused Erdogan's party of interfering in the counting of the results. When 51 percent of the ballot boxes were counted abroad, Mr. Erdogan was leading there with 55.8 percent of the vote, although he was losing to Mr. Kilicdaroglu in polling stations in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, China, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia and other countries. CEC head Ahmet Yener said that 27 more ballot boxes have not been opened in Turkey; more than 1,500 remain to be opened abroad. The candidates needed more than 50% of the votes to win in the first round. The second round is scheduled for May 28. Parliamentary elections Mr. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party received 49% of the vote. The opposition People’s Alliance, led by the Republican People’s Party of Mr. Kilicdaroglu, received 34.94%. According to TRT, the Republican Alliance, headed by Erdogan’s party, will get a majority in parliament (more than 320 seats). The People’s Alliance will get 213 seats, Mr. Kilicdaroglu’s Republican People’s Party will have 169 seats and the Good Party will have another 44 seats. Some seats will go to candidates from other parties that ran on party lists. Sinan Ogan’s ATA Alliance and the Union of Socialist Forces of the four left-wing parties will not be represented in parliament due to low levels of support.