A runoff looks likely as counting resumes after polls close in Turkey’s election.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains at the top, although his vote share fell below 50% after the publication of the first results of the public agency Anadolu.
The third candidate, Sinan Ogan of the right-wing ATA Alliance, performed better than expected.
If no candidate receives more than half of the votes in the first round, a second round will take place on May 28.
With just over 99% of ballot boxes open, Erdogan won 49.4% of the vote in the country’s presidential election, the head of the country’s electoral council said.
Ahmet Yener, the chairman of the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK), said Erdogan’s rival Kemal Kılıcdaroglu got 44.96% and third-ranked candidate, ultra-nationalist and potential kingmaker Sinan Ogan obtained 5.2% of the votes.
Meanwhile, the Turkish pro-government media celebrate ‘people’s victory’
Pro-government media have hailed the preliminary results of Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
The Yeni Safak newspaper led the way saying, “The people have won”, referring to Erdogan’s People’s Alliance, which appears to have won a majority in parliament and is leading the count in the presidential elections despite a likely run-off.
