Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the nation during the pandemic, Ankara, April 18, 2020. Photo: Getty Images.
According to the Anadolu News Agency, incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won the second round of Turkey’s presidential elections this Sunday after a narrow duel against opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
With 99.02% of the votes counted, the current president, the People’s Alliance candidate, gets 52.08% of the vote, compared with 47.92% for Kilicdaroglu, who is running for the National Alliance, the agency gathers. The final result will be announced by the supreme electoral body in a follow-up message.
“I want to thank every single member of our nation who has once again entrusted us with the responsibility of governing the country for the next five years,” Erdogan told his supporters in Istanbul. “The winner of the May 14-28 elections are the 85 million citizens,” added the President and leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Even before the final results were announced, several world leaders congratulated Erdogan on the victory. The Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani; Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Órban, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyeev, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Azerbaijani President Ilyam Aliev were the first to do so.
The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, also joined in the congratulations. “Venezuela celebrates the victory of our brother and friend Recep Tayyip Erdogan who was victorious in the presidential and parliamentary elections in Türkiye. We congratulate the Turkish people on this victory and wish to continue working together to build the new world. Long live Turkiye! ‘ Maduro wrote on his Twitter account.
The May 28 vote came after neither candidate managed to get more than 50% of the vote in the first ballot.
(Taken from RT in Spanish)