“Turkish Presidential Election Results: Recep Tayyip Erdogan Wins with 51.12%”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won the presidential election with 51.12%, according to 72% of processed ballots, the High Election Commission of Turkey reported, as quoted by state TV TRT-Haber.

43.05 percent of voters voted for the candidate of the National Alliance, Kemal Kulchdaroglu. 5.32 percent of voters voted for Sinan Ogan, leader of the ATA Alliance.

Meanwhile, ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesman Yomer Celik dismissed opposition claims that the state-run Anatolia Agency manipulated the way the vote count was reported.

According to the latest VIK data, 37.86 percent of voters voted for the AKP in the parliamentary elections. 22.62 percent of voters voted for the main opposition People’s Republican Party (NRP), 11.71 percent for the Party of Nationalist Action, and 9.81 percent for the Good Party.

Erdogan took the lead in the initial results

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has emerged as the leader of the presidential elections already in the initial results, according to data from the High Election Commission of Turkey.

For Erdogan, leader of the pro-Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), 55.03 percent of voters voted, according to data from 21.33 percent of ballots processed.

39 percent of voters voted for the opposition presidential candidate Kemal Kulçdaroğlu.

5.4 percent of voters voted for Sinan Ogan, leader of the ATA Alliance, and 0.57 percent of voters cast their vote for Muharrem Ince, chairman of the Homeland Party, who announced this week that he was withdrawing from his candidacy, despite the votes cast for him shall be considered valid.

The VIC said that according to 11 percent of the ballots processed, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) of the Turkish president received 349 of the 600 seats in the Mejlis in the parliamentary elections, while the main opposition People’s Republican Party received 98 seats.

In the meantime, the leader of the NRP Kulçdaroğlu called for the polling stations in the country not to remain unmonitored.

According to the Turkish opposition, voter turnout today was 93.6 percent. There is still no official data from the High Electoral Commission.

Today’s elections started at 8:00 a.m. and lasted until 5:00 p.m. More than 64 million Turkish voters have the right to vote.

Enhanced security measures were introduced in the country.

Citizens vote en masse

Citizens are flocking to polling stations in Istanbul to exercise their right to vote in today’s presidential and parliamentary elections, considered a crucial crossroads for the country’s future direction, BTA reported at noon on Sunday.

“I’m 90 years old, but it’s been a long time, maybe 50 years, I haven’t seen so many people come to vote like today”says Mrs. Guler Eminaoglu.

The elderly woman and I chat as we wait our turn to vote in front of Section No. 2721 at Hasan Şadoğlu Secondary School in the Maltepe neighborhood on Istanbul’s Asian side.

The school houses ten out of a total of 30,802 polling stations on the territory of the metropolis. A total of 11.5 million voters are registered in the Bosphorus city. About 850,000 of them will vote for the first time in these elections.

The elderly woman came to vote together with her daughter Meryem.

“We waited nearly an hour to vote. But I would wait even longer because I want us to live peacefully, without worries about livelihood and most importantly – to have justice and respect for the rights of all citizens”, said the daughter.

Since the morning, the flow of people coming to the polls has not stopped. In front of the sections there are lines of 40-50 people waiting to vote.

“There were those who wanted to vote even before 8 o’clock, when the polling stations were opened. There are a total of ten sections in this school,” an official in one of the sections told BTA, predicting that the influx will likely remain high until the end of election day.

In response to a question about what will happen if there are still people who wish to vote after 5 p.m., he explained that the chairman of the section committee will register for voting those waiting in front of the section so that they can cast their vote.

According to the Turkish media, high voter turnout is observed everywhere in the country.

The last election in 2018, which was won by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), saw a turnout of 86 percent.

“This time I expect voter turnout to exceed 90 percent, maybe 95 percent. The Turkish voter initially has an attitude to vote unlike the Europeans, and this manifests itself especially strongly in critical elections like these,” predicts analyst Harun Meslek.

Erdogan’s ally, Nationalist Action Party (PND) leader Devlet Bahceli, said it was “visible that everywhere there is a high voter turnout”.

According to Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, who voted in Istanbul, the vote went smoothly everywhere. He stated that 600,000 police officers have been mobilized to guard the elections.

Voting itself takes about 5 minutes per person. Voting is done with two ballots – one for the presidential vote, on which the photos of the four presidential candidates are printed – the Republican Alliance Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the leader of the Motherland Party Muharrem Ince, the candidate of the opposition National Alliance Kemal Kulçdaroğlu and Sinan Ogan from the ATA alliance. Ince announced on Thursday that he was withdrawing from the election, but election officials said the votes cast for him would still be counted as valid.

The second ballot, which is almost a meter long, has the names of 24 political parties participating in the parliamentary elections.

Election day ends at 5 p.m., after which the counting of ballots will begin – first for the presidential vote, and then for the parliamentary vote.

Voting at border posts will also end at 5 p.m.

Between 18:00 and 21:00, only the Supreme Electoral Commission can announce the results of the vote, and after 21:00 this restriction will be lifted.

From 6 a.m. today until midnight, the sale of alcohol is prohibited, establishments selling spirits are closed, and wedding parties are only allowed after 6 p.m.