Turkey’s presidential election goes to the run-off vote, President Erdogan narrowly missed a complete victory | Wagon Radio 720

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkey’s Conservative President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has faced a major rival in deciding who will lead the country hosting Syrian refugees suffering from high inflation, amid a key role in the Middle East. Face a runoff vote in two weeks and also in NATO expansion.

Election officials said on Monday that the second round of polls on May 28 will see Turkish citizens remain under firm control of an increasingly authoritarian president for 30 years, or the more democratic Kemal Kirikdaroglu has promised. You can decide whether you can embark on a more realistic route.

Some voters commented that the vote showed how extremely polarized Turkey is.

“I’m not happy at all,” said voter Susan Debrezza. “I’m worried about Türkiye’s future.”

Erdogan has faced headwinds in his election campaign due to the cost of living crisis and criticism of the government’s handling of the devastating earthquake in February.

The nationalist retreat was still less pronounced than expected. But he is now well positioned to win the second round as his alliance maintains control in Congress.

Engin Duran, who voted for President Erdogan, said: “On May 28, God wills, if Tayyip Erdogan lives up to expectations, he will win.”

As in previous years, President Erdogan led a highly divisive campaign.

It portrayed Mr. Kilicdaroglu, who was backed by the country’s pro-Kurdish political parties, as colluding with “terrorists” and supporting what he called “deviant” LGBTQ rights.

To convince inflation-hit voters, he increased wages and pensions, subsidized electricity and gas bills, and showcased Turkey’s homegrown defense industry and infrastructure projects.

Kirikdaroglu campaigned on promises to reverse the crackdown on free speech and other forms of democratic setbacks and repair an economy hit by high inflation and currency devaluation.

But as the results came in, those factors didn’t seem to sway voters as much as hoped. The conservative heartland of Turkey overwhelmingly voted for the ruling party, with Mr. Kilicdaroglu’s main opposition winning victories in most of the western and southern coastal provinces. The pro-Kurdish green leftist YSP has won the Kurdish-majority southeastern provinces.

Uncertainty forced Turkey’s main stock exchange BIST-100 to drop more than 6% at the start of trading on Monday, suspending trading. Stocks briefly recovered during the day, but the index returned to its initial lows near the close.

Western nations and foreign investors have been drawn to this move because of Erdogan’s unconventional economic leadership and often fickle but successful efforts to put the country, which straddles Europe and Asia, at the center of many major diplomatic negotiations. I was particularly interested in the results.

Supreme Electoral Commission chairman Ahmet Jena said provisional results showed Erdogan winning 49.5% of the vote on Sunday, followed by 44.9% for Kirikda Rogul and 5.2% for third candidate Sinan Ogan. obtained.

Jenner said the remaining uncounted votes, even if they were all for Erdogan, would not have been enough to give Erdogan a complete victory. In the last presidential election in 2018, Erdogan won the first round with more than 52% of the vote.

Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey as either prime minister or president since 2003, painted Sunday’s vote as a victory for both himself and his country, despite the possibility of a run-off election.

“Even if the election results are not final, it does not change the fact that the people elected us,” Erdogan, 69, told his supporters early Monday morning.

He said he would respect the country’s decision.

As the run-off was announced, Kirikdaroglu appeared hopeful, tweeting, “Don’t despair…we will stand up and win this election together.”

Kirikdaroglu, 74, and his party, which have lost all previous presidential and parliamentary elections since he became leader in 2010, have gained more votes this time.

Right-wing candidate Ogan has not said who he would support if the election went to the second round. He is believed to have the support of nationalist electors who want change after 20 years under Erdogan, but is unconvinced by the ability of the six-party coalition led by Kirikda Rogul to govern.

Election results showed the coalition led by President Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party is likely to retain a majority in the 600-seat parliament, but narrowly passed a referendum giving the president additional legislative powers. Congress has since lost much of its power. in 2017.

Erdogan’s AKP and its allies secured 321 seats in the parliament, while the opposition won 213 seats and the remaining 66 seats went to the pro-Kurdish coalition, according to preliminary results.

Howard Eisenstaedt, an associate professor of Middle Eastern history and politics at New York’s St. Lawrence University, said voters don’t want a “divided government”, so these results would favor Erdogan in the final runoff. said it was likely.

Erdogan’s party dominated the quake-hit areas, winning 10 of the 11 provinces that traditionally supported the president, according to results reported by the state Anadolu Agency. This was despite criticism that the government was slow to respond to the 7.8-magnitude quake that killed more than 50,000 people.

Nearly 89% of Turkish voters cast their ballots, while more than half of overseas voters made their way to the ballot box. Turkey’s voter turnout has traditionally been high despite years of government suppression of freedom of expression and assembly, especially since the 2016 coup attempt.

Erdoğan blamed followers of former ally cleric Fethullah Gulen for the failed coup and launched a massive crackdown on officials suspected of having ties to Gulen, activists, journalists and pro-Kurdish leaders politicians were also imprisoned.

“Turkey’s democracy has proven to be surprisingly resilient. This election had a high voter turnout and gave us real options,” he said, leading a delegation from the Council of Europe to inspect the elections. said Frank Schwabe. But he added that the country did not meet the “basic principles for conducting democratic elections”.

Special Coordinator and leader of the OSCE Observatory that oversees the election, Michael Georg Rink, said the election was competitive but limited.

“The criminalization of some political forces, including the detention of several opposition politicians, has prevented full political pluralism and prevented individuals from standing for election,” he explained.

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Birginsoy reported from Istanbul. Associated Press writer Sinar Kiper contributed from Bodrum, Turkey.