ANKARA, May 15 – According to the state-run TRT TV channel, incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan secured 49.35% of the vote in Sunday’s presidential election, with all ballot boxes counted. Main opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu gained 45% of the vote. The third presidential candidate, Sinan Ogan, received 5.22%, while Muharrem Ince, who withdrew from the race, garnered 0.43%. Notably, Turkey’s election authority considers Ince’s votes as valid.
Over one million votes were rejected as invalid, and voter turnout reached an all-time high of 88.84%. To win in the first round, a presidential candidate needed to secure 50% plus one vote. As Erdogan fell short of this threshold, a run-off is set to take place on May 28 between the top two contenders.
In the parliamentary elections, with 99.99% of ballots counted, Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party-led People’s Alliance secured 321 seats in the 600-seat parliament. Within the alliance, the Justice and Development Party is expected to claim 266 seats, the Nationalist Movement Party 50 seats, and the New Welfare Party five seats.
The opposition alliance received a total of 213 seats, with Kilicdaroglu’s Republican People’s Party securing 169 seats and the Good Party gaining 44 seats. Candidates representing the other four parties in the alliance were included in the Republican People’s Party’s lists and will also enter parliament. The Labor and Freedom Alliance, which included candidates from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, is projected to attain 66 seats. However, the ATA Alliance and the Union of Socialist Forces failed to secure any seats in parliament.
With the run-off scheduled, the Turkish presidential election and parliamentary dynamics remain uncertain. The upcoming weeks will be crucial for the nation’s political landscape as voters head to the polls once again to decide Turkey’s future leadership.
