Erdogan wins new term

Turkey president extends 15-year grip on power after victory in tightly-contested polls.

ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won tightly contested presidential polls, the election authority said, extending his 15-year grip on power as the opposition complained bitterly about the conduct of the vote count.

Turkish voters had for the first time cast ballots for both president and parliament in the snap elections yesterday, with Erdogan looking for a first round knockout and an overall majority for his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The stakes were particularly high as the new president will be the first to enjoy enhanced powers, without even a prime minister, under a new constitution agreed in an April 2017 referendum strongly backed by Erdogan, but which opponents say grants autocratic powers.

Erdogan defeated his nearest rival Muharrem Ince with an “absolute majority” of more than half the

vote without needing a second round, said the chief of Turkey’s election authority Sadi Guven.

“I have been entrusted by the nation with the task and duties of the presidency,” Erdogan said in a victory address at his Istanbul residence yesterday, vowing that the new presidential system would be implemented “rapidly”.

“Turkey has given a lesson in democracy to the entire world,” he added, pointing to an 88% turnout.

Erdogan won by 52.5% in the presidential poll while Ince, of the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP), had 31.5%, state-run Anadolu news agency said based on a 99% vote count.

If confirmed, the figures would show Erdogan polling on a similar rating or even stronger than his 2014 election victory, where he won his first mandate after over a decade as prime minister.

Celebrations erupted outside Erdogan’s residence in Istanbul and AKP headquarters in Ankara, with crowds of flag-waving supporters.

Erdogan flew in triumph to Ankara, where he held his traditional victory speech from the balcony of AKP headquarters.

“The winner of this election is each and every individual among my 81 million citizens,” he declared.

Trailing were Selahattin Demirtas of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) with over 8% in third and Meral Aksener of the nationalist (Iyi) Good Party with over 7%.

Erdogan also declared victory in the parliamentary election, saying the alliance led by the AKP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) had won the majority in parliament.

A count of 99% of the votes showed that AKP and the MHP would win 293 and 50 seats respectively, enough for an easy majority in the 600-member chamber.

The HDP was polling 11.5%, well over the 10% minimum threshold needed, to win 67 seats, which would make the party the second largest opposition faction in the new chamber.

Its success is all the more remarkable given that Demirtas campaigned from a jail cell after his November 2016 arrest on charges of links to outlawed Kurdish militants.

Turkey has given a lesson in democracy to the entire world. Recep Tayyip Erdogan