Politics

Turkey faces election runoff after tight race between Erdogan, Kılıcdaroglu

Istanbul, May 15 (EFE).- The race for power in Turkey’s presidential election appeared very close, with neither President Recep Tayyip Erdogan nor his nearest rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, winning enough votes to become the clear winner, forcing a second round of polls.

According to the electoral commission on Monday, after scrutiny of about 91 percent of the ballot boxes in the general elections held on Sunday, none of the candidates managed to exceed 50 percent.

With the provisional result and the absentee ballot boxes yet to be counted, the nearly 65 million eligible voters may return to the polls on May 28 to elect a new president.

Securing 49.5 percent of votes, Erdogan will face the runoff with an advantage of more than 4 points over Kilicdaroglu, who got 44.8 percent.

Sinan Ogan, from the ultranationalist Ata Alliance, came a distant third with 5.3 percent.

Elections were also held for 600 seats in parliament.

Erdogan’s AK Party (AKP) has secured the most votes but received only 35 percent, with more than 96 percent of ballots counted.

It was its worst result since AKP came to power in 2002.

The AKP will probably stay in power thanks to the electoral alliance with other parties, mainly the ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Islamic fundamentalist Yeniden Refah.

The AKP would see its seats reduced from 285 to 268. But the alliance may hold 324 of the 600 seats to maintain a comfortable majority.

The opposition social democratic party (CHP) will see its tally rise to 167 seats from the current 134.

Its coalition partner, the nationalist IYI, will add 44, which means it would continue in the opposition even if it receives the support of the Kurdish left with 62 seats. EFE

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