Turkish Presidential Election Goes to Second Round for the First Time in History

After an all-night debate between the Turkish opposition and the ruling Justice and Development Party over the results of the presidential elections, the Supreme Elections Council confirmed that the race was postponed to a second round, for the first time in the country’s history.

Today (Monday), Speaker of the Council Ahmed Yanar said that the candidate of the ruling “People’s Alliance”, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, won 49.40 percent, while the candidate of the opposition “Nation Alliance” Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu received 44.96 percent, and the candidate of the right-wing “ATA Alliance”. Nationalist Sinan Ogan got 5.20 percent of the vote.

None of the three candidates was able to win the elections in its first round, bearing in mind that the fourth candidate, head of the “Balad” party, Muharram Ince, withdrew 3 days before the presidential and parliamentary elections that were held on Sunday.

And one of them had to get 50 percent + 1 of the votes of the more than 64 million voters, of whom 5.2 million voters voted for the first time.

The run-off for the presidential elections will take place between Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu on May 28. The Supreme Electoral Council did not announce the voter turnout, but unofficial estimates indicated the highest turnout in the history of the elections in Turkey, amounting to 93.6 percent.

Erdogan expects a vote “in favor of stability”

Erdogan said, speaking in front of a gathering of his supporters in front of the headquarters of the Justice and Development Party in Ankara, which he arrived from Istanbul in the early hours of Monday morning, that “Turkey has completed a new democratic wedding in the May 14 elections … We are far ahead in elections.” Elections, although the results are not final yet. The People’s Alliance also won the majority of seats in Parliament, according to the election results.

He added, “We sincerely believe that we will continue to serve our nation over the next five years… Our people, who gave the People’s Alliance the majority in Parliament, will vote for stability in the presidential elections.”

Kilicdaroglu is confident of winning

In turn, Kilicdaroglu told reporters at the headquarters of the Republican People’s Electoral Party in Ankara: “If our nation’s decision is to hold a second round of presidential elections, we will definitely win it and we will work to consolidate the state of truth, law and justice,” adding: “The will for change in society is higher than 50 percent.” cent».

To whom do the votes of Ince and Ogan go?

And after the run-off in the presidential elections became a reality, questions began about the votes of the other candidates, Muharram Ince and Sinan Ogan, and to whom they would go.

Ince, who withdrew from the presidential race on Thursday following allegations of his involvement in a morality scandal, has yet to make a final decision on who to support in the run-off.

Because of his withdrawal after the legal date, the Supreme Council for Elections continued to count the votes of Ince in the first round, and he obtained 0.4 percent (about 234 thousand votes), while previous opinion polls suggested that he would receive 1.7 percent if he continued in the race.

Ogan will remain the difficult figure who can tip the scales in favor of Erdogan or Kılıçdaroğlu in the run-off, but he does not want to do so without a price.

Ogan said on the eve of Sunday’s elections: “If the elections go to a run-off … we will discuss our demands with the parties we sit at the table with. The beginning will be to distance itself from terrorism,” referring to the Kurdish “HDP” support for Kilicdaroglu and the support of “Huda Bar”, the Turkish “Hezbollah” arm, for Erdogan. He added, “We will not be partners for free, and we will have demands such as the ministries and the vice president.”

Composition of the new Turkish Parliament

According to the preliminary results of the parliamentary elections, there was no significant change in the form of the new parliament, and the “People’s Alliance” maintained its majority by 49.4 percent and won 321 of the 600 seats in parliament, while the “Nation’s Alliance” won 35.1 percent, achieving 231 seats. And the “Coalition of Labor and Freedom” won 10.5 percent, which guaranteed it 66 seats.

The percentage of “Justice and Development” was 35.5 percent, “Republican People” 25.4 percent, “National Movement” 10.1 percent, “Good” 9.7 percent, and “Green Left” 8.8 percent.

These results indicate a decline in the percentage of support for the “Justice and Development” by about 4 percentage points compared to the 2018 elections. The party was able to raise its percentage in 8 states, while its support declined in 73 states of the country. 16 states.

The surprise was that the National Movement raised its approval rating to more than 10 percent, while all opinion polls before the elections indicated its inability to cross the electoral threshold (7 percent).

On the other hand, the proportion of the “Good” party led by Meral Aksener was lower than expectations that the party could get 13 percent of the vote.

The decline of the “Democratic Peoples” was also one of the surprises of the elections, as the majority of polls suggested that it would win between 10 and 14 percent of the vote. The party ran in the elections under the umbrella of the Green Left Party in anticipation of its closure by a decision of the Constitutional Court in the lawsuit filed against it on charges of supporting terrorism.

Analysts believed that this decline is due to the pressures on the “democratic peoples” over the past 5 years by Erdogan and his presentation as a political arm of the “PKK”, which is classified as a terrorist organization.

Win all ministers

The results of the parliamentary elections revealed the victory of all 16 ministers of Erdogan’s government who ran in the elections, as all ministers were nominated except for the Minister of Health, Fakhruddin Koca, and the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Muhammad Nuri Ersoy, who requested not to run in the elections.

Ministers were placed at the top of the “Justice and Development” lists in 16 electoral districts and 15 large cities. Vice President Fuad Oktay and Minister of Labor and Social Security Wadad Bilgin entered parliament in Ankara as deputies for the capital, Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdag for Şanlıurfa, and Minister of Family and Social Services Derya Yanik for Osmaniye.

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change Minister Murat Corum was elected in Istanbul, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was elected in Antalya, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez was elected as a member of Eskisehir, and Defense Minister Hulusi Akar was elected in Kayseri.

Minister of Youth and Sports Mehmet Muharram Qasab Oglu won in Izmir, Minister of Treasury and Finance Noureddine Nabatai won in Mersin, and Minister of Education Mahmud Ozer won in Ordu.

Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank got a seat in Bursa, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Vahid Kiricci got a seat in Kahramanmaraş, Trade Minister Mehmet Muş got a seat in Samsun, and Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adel Kara Ismailoglu got a seat in Trabzon.

The former Minister of Justice, Abdul Hamid Gul, was chosen as a member of Parliament for Gaziantep, and the former Minister of Labor and Social Security, Faruk Celik, for the state of Artvin.