USA TODAY International Edition
Turkey’s Erdogan declared winner as opposition cries foul
ISTANBUL – Turkey’s national electoral board has pronounced incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the winner of the country’s presidential election with an “absolute majority” of valid votes.
Speaking early Monday, the head of the Supreme Election Council said 97.7 percent of votes had been counted. Sadi Guven said the remaining votes would not affect the outcome of Erdogan’s re-election.
The vote also ushered in an executive presidency system giving Erdogan sweeping new powers.
Guven also announced that unofficial results showed five parties had passed the 10 percent election threshold required to enter parliament.
Earlier, on Sunday night, in an address to the nation, Erdogan said that “with almost 90 percent turnout rate in the elections, Turkey has given a very good democracy lesson to all the world.”
Erdogan, 64, also declared victory for the People’s Alliance, an electoral cooperation between his ruling Justice and Development Party and the small Nationalist Movement Party, saying they had a “parliamentary majority” in the 600-member assembly.
After Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported that Erdogan quickly held a commanding lead, state broadcaster TRT announced Erdogan the winner of the presidency with 52.7 percent of the vote and his party’s electoral alliance won a majority in parliament.
Erdogan needed more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff next month.
The main opposition candidate, Muharrem Ince of the Republican People’s Party, contested the tally reported by the pro-government Anadolu, saying fewer ballot boxes had actually been counted and accusing the agency of “manipulation” of the results.
Republican People’s Party spokesman Bulent Tezcan accused Anadolu of making up numbers for the results. “There is a high probability the presidential election will go to a second round,” he said.
The elections for both president and parliament complete Turkey’s transformation from a parliamentary to presidential system of government that grants sweeping powers to the president, who had been a figurehead. The switch was approved last year.
Turkey’s opposition leaders framed the elections as a choice between democracy and further authoritarian rule.
After the failed military coup in 2016, tens of thousands of government opponents have been jailed, more than 100,000 people have been fired or suspended from government positions, and Turkey has become the top jailer of journalists in the world.
Sunday’s vote took place under a state of emergency, and Erdogan’s allies control around 90 percent of the country’s media.