The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Partial Turkish results show Erdogan leading in elections
ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took a commanding lead in his bid Sunday for a presidency with broadly expanded powers, according to partial results reported by the country’s state-run news agency that showed him with more than 50 percent of the vote — enough to avoid a runoff.
Erdogan c laimed v ic- tory based on the unofficial results. Speaking in tele- vised remarks from Istanbul late Sunday, Erdogan said “the nation has entrusted to me the responsibility of the presidency and the execu- tive duty.”
Moments before Erdogan’s claim, Spokesman Bulent Tezcan of the Republican People’s Party slammed Turkey’s state-run news agency for reporting that Erdogan has won enough to avoid a run- off and accused the agency of distorting the results.
He said, “there is a high probability the presidential election will go to a second round.”
State-run Anadolu news agency had Erdogan lead- ing the race with 52.63 per- cent, more than the 50 per- cent required to avoid a sec- ond round on July 8.
The main opposition con- tender, Muharrem Ince, also contested the report. In a tweet, he said only 37 percent of ballot boxes had actually been counted, as opposed to the more than nearly 90 percent the state-run agency Anadolu was reporting.
The high-stakes presiden- tial contest and a parliamentary election also held Sunday were set to either con- solidate Erdogan’s grip on power or curtail his vast political ambitions. The vote will complete Turkey’s tran- sition from a parliamentary to a new executive presidential system, a move approved in a referendum last year.
For an outright win in the presidential race, Erdogan needs more than 50 percent to avoid a run-off on July 8.
With nearly 90 percent of the country’s ballot boxes counted, according to Anadolu, Erdogan was at 53.3 percent of the vote, with his main rival Muhar- rem Ince at 30.4 percent. Kurdish candidate Selahattin Demirtas, who ran his campaign from jail where he is being held pending trial on terrorism-related charges, was garnering 7.7 percent. He has called the charges trumped-up and politically motivated.
Erdogan supporters waving Turkish and party flags celebrated outside his resi- dence in Istanbul.
In the parliamentary vote, with 88 percent of ballot boxes counted, according to Anadolu, Erdogan’s People’s Alliance, which includes his Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and a small nationalist party, stood at 54.4 percent, while the oppo- sition Nation Alliance grouping together nationalists, sec- ularists and a small Islamic-leaning party, was at 33.7 percent.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, or HDP, was edging past the 10 percent threshold to enter parliament, with 10.7 percent. If the HDP manages to get into parliament, it could threaten Erdogan’s AKP majority, meaning it will need support from another party to approve legislation.
HDP has seen nine of its lawmakers, including Demirtas, and thousands of party members jailed, and says more than 350 of its election workers have been detained since April 28.
Erdogan, 64, is seeking re-election for a five-year term with hugely increased powers under the new system, which he insists will bring prosperity and stability to Turkey, especially after a failed coup attempt in 2016 that has left the country under a state of emergency.
Ince, speaking just after polls closed, warned civil servants involved in the vote count to do their jobs “abiding by the law” and without fear, suggesting they were under pressure by the government. He asked all Turks to be vigilant at polls and not be “demoralized” by what he called the possible manipulation of news.
Erdogan, who has been in power since 2003, has faced a more robust, united opposition than ever before. Opposition candidates had vowed to return Turkey to a parliamentary democracy with strong checks and balances and have decried what they call Erdogan’s “one-man rule.”
Erdogan is the most powerful leader since the founder of the Turkish republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. He remains popular in the conservative and pious heartland, having empowered previously disenfranchised groups.