ANKARA: Turkey braces for its first election runoff after a night of high drama showed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan edging ahead of his rival but failing to secure a first-round win.
Erdogan sounded triumphant as he emerged before a sea of supporters shortly after midnight to proclaim himself ready to lead the nation for another five years.
Almost complete results from turkey’s most important election of its post-ottoman era showed Erdogan – in power since 2003 and undefeated in more than a dozen national votes – falling just short of the 50-per cent threshold needed to win.
Erdogan said current results showed him far ahead of Kemal Kilicdaroglu but stopped short of declaring outright victory.
He said votes from abroad were still being counted and that he was 2.6 million votes ahead of his rival.
Erdogan said that he would respect the people’s decision if the Presidential vote goes to a runoff.
Meanwhile, opposition Presidential Candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu said that he will accept the people’s decision for a second round, adding President Tayyip Erdogan had not obtained the result he wanted in Sunday’s elections.
Speaking alongside leaders of the other parties in his Alliance, Kilicdaroglu said he will win in the runoff against Erdogan.
The head of Turkey’s High Election Board said early on Monday that Erdogan was leading the Presidential Vote with 49.49 per cent, with 91.93 per cent of ballot boxes counted.
Ahmet Yener said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Erdogan’s main rival, had 44.49 per cent of votes.
