Turkey’s Electoral Commission Decides to Count Votes for Withdrawn Presidential Candidate Muharrem Ince

The head of the Supreme Electoral Commission in Turkey, Ahmed Yanar, said that the commission decided to count the votes granted in favor of the candidate for the presidential elections, Muharrem Ince, despite his announcement of withdrawing from the race, two days ago.

Yanar justified the unanimous decision reached by the commission, by saying that Ince’s withdrawal from running for the post of President of the Republic came after the vote of the Turks abroad, and that the votes granted to him must be considered valid.

In the event that Inge gets votes that enable him to advance to the second round, he will not be able to participate in it, and only the second and third ranked candidates will be able to participate in the second round.

On Thursday, Ince, one of the three rivals of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the presidential elections scheduled for Sunday, May 14, announced his withdrawal from the race, in a decision that may enhance the chances of Kamal Kiltishdar Oglu, Erdogan’s main opponent.

“I withdraw my candidacy,” said Inge, head of the “Watan” party, which won between 2 and 4 percent of voting intentions in recent opinion polls, during a press conference.

Ince justified his decision, saying that the opposition coalition led by Kilicdaroglu “will hold him fully responsible” if he loses to the Turkish president. “I don’t want them to have any excuses,” he said.

In 2018, Muharram Ince was the candidate of the Republican People’s Party (Social-Democratic) in the presidential elections, but Erdogan defeated him in the first round. He then established his own secular nationalist party in May 2021.

According to a poll conducted by the Metropole Institute on May 8-9, nearly 50 percent of Ince’s supporters would vote for Kılıçdaroğlu, compared to less than a quarter in favor of Erdogan.

“My call still stands, let’s put old grudges aside,” Kilicdaroglu wrote on Twitter last Thursday, calling on Muharrem Ince to join his coalition.

For his part, Erdogan responded during a rally in Ankara province, saying, “His withdrawal is incomprehensible. Frankly, I am sad.”