Turkey, which rushed massively to the polls, was suspended on Sunday evening from the battle of personalities between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is being considered by the state media, and his opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who claims the advantage.
• Also read: Türkiye: Erdogan gathers his base ahead of Sunday’s crucial vote
• Also read: Türkiye: An opponent of Erdogan throws in the towel three days before the presidential elections
The 69-year-old head of state won the majority in the first round with more than 52% of the vote against less than 41% for his opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu, 74, according to figures provided by the state-run Anadolu Agency, which are likely to develop. Strongly.
France Press agency
The opposition immediately denounced these results, and Kemal Kilicdaroglu said, “We are in the lead.”
According to the private press agency ANKA, the outgoing president won 47.6% of the vote and Kemal Kilicdaroglu 46.6% of more than half (52%) of the votes counted.
Such an outcome would require a second round to be held on May 28, the first for Mr. Erdogan to be renewed in the first round with more than 52% of the vote in 2018.
To be declared the winner, one of the two main candidates must receive a majority of 50% of the vote plus one.
France Press agency
One of the opposition figures, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, speaking at the party headquarters “on behalf of Kemal Kilicdaroglu,” called on citizens to ignore the numbers provided by Anatolia.
“We do not believe Anatolia,” he stressed, referring to a news agency that he said was “under a respirator.” He accused the ruling AKP of increasing litigation in offices as its candidate appears to be lagging behind.
The final turnout, which appears to be high, was not announced four hours after polls closed.
The third candidate in the race, Sinan Ogan, received about 5% of the vote.
France Press agency
Throughout the day, ballot boxes were filled with large mustard-colored envelopes deposited by voters who waited sometimes several hours in front of schools-turned-polling stations.
The 64 million voters also had to choose the 600 deputies who would sit in the unicameral parliament in Ankara.
Mr. Erdogan has promised to respect the rule of the ballot box, which is watched by hundreds of thousands of photographers on both sides and from which he has always derived his legitimacy.
Arriving in the middle of the day at his polling station in Uskudar, a conservative district on the Asian side of Istanbul, Mr. Erdogan, with drawn features, wished “a profitable future for the country and for Turkish democracy,” emphasizing the “enthusiasm of voters,” especially in the areas affected by the February 6 earthquake that It claimed the lives of at least 50 thousand people.
For his part, in Ankara, Kemal Kilicdaroglu showed a big smile. We have missed democracy. “You will see spring will return to this country, God willing, and it will remain forever,” he said, using one of his campaign slogans.
Voters had to choose between two men and two social projects for Turkey: an Islamist conservative president, Erdogan, 69, and his rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, representative of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s secular party.
“Simply put, we want the French Revolution: + equality, liberty, + fraternity, because in the past 20 years, all of that has disappeared,” estimated Ulfi Amenci, 58, from Istanbul’s upscale neighborhood of Sisli, blue jeans and hand tattoo.
France Press agency
Nurkan Soyer knocked a scarf on his head in front of Erdogan’s polling station: “I say, let’s continue with Erdogan.”
In the bruised city of Antakya, ancient Antakya (south) destroyed by the earthquake, Mehmet Topaloglu arrived among the first: “We need change, that’s enough.” The wounds were still alive three months after the tragedy.
Mr Kilicdaroglu leads a six-party united front from the nationalist right to the liberal centre-left. He also had the support of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, the country’s third political force.
France Press agency
This time, Mr. Erdogan is appearing before a country battered by an economic crisis, where the currency has halved in two years and inflation topped 85% in the fall.
Confronting him, Kemal Kilicdaroglu played the appeasement card, promising to restore the rule of law and respect for institutions, which had been damaged over the past ten years by Erdogan’s authoritarian drift.
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