Erdogan consolidates power after poll win

Opposition leader says ‘the race wasn’t fair’, as the president returns with even more powers

Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared his election victory in Turkey last night after the opposition appeared to concede defeat. The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that with 96 per cent of ballots counted, Mr Erdogan had won 53 per cent of the vote. He will have more power than ever after pushing through changes to the constitution allowing him to pass many laws by decree. He will also have broad authority to appoint judges.

PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared victory in Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections yesterday and appeared on course to continue his 15 years in office with more power than ever after pushing through changes to the country’s constitution.

“Our people have given us the job of carrying out the presidential and executive posts,” Mr Erodgan said in a short speech in Istanbul. “I hope nobody will try to cast a shadow on the results and harm democracy in order to hide their own failure.”

His supporters took to the streets in celebration in Istanbul and Ankara after his victory speech.

Mr Erdogan needed to take more than 50 per cent of the vote in order to win the election in one round and avoid going into a run-off against his main challenger Muharrem Ince, the candidate of the centre-left Republican People’s Party (CHP).

The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that with 96 per cent of ballot boxes counted, Mr Erdogan had won 53 per cent of the vote and secured a first-round victory.

Initial results also showed Mr Erodgan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) winning the parliamentary vote in coalition with a smaller nationalist party, although with a narrow governing majority.

The government coalition won 54 per cent of the vote, according to Anadolu, while an opposition coalition led by the CHP won 34 per cent.

The Turkish opposition initially disputed the results and accused state media of manipulating the returns to make it appear that Mr Erdogan was galloping to victory. But shortly before 1am, Mr Ince and the CHP appeared to concede that they had lost. “I accept that Erdogan has won. Even though the race wasn’t fair, he has won,” Mr Ince reportedly said in a message to a Turkish news anchor. He is due to hold a press conference today.

Turnout appeared to be around 87 per cent, a record high even in Turkey, which traditionally has a higher election turnout than Britain or the US. The Supreme Election Commission had still not issued an official set of preliminary election results by 1am.

Mr Erdogan will begin his next term as Turkey’s first executive president, after winning a controversial referendum last year to transform the presidency from a largely symbolic role to one with sweeping new powers at the expense of the parliament. He will be able to pass many laws by decree and will have broad authority to appoint judges, further cementing his grip on power.

Mr Erdogan is eligible for two more five-year terms in office, meaning he could stay in power until 2028, a full quarter of a century after he first became Turkey’s leader in 2003.

He called the snap election a year early in an apparent effort to get ahead of economic problems which have begun to push up prices in Turkey and deflate the value of the Turkish lira against the dollar. The opposition warned that Mr Erdogan’s supporters might try to rig the results to keep the Turkish president in power.

While there were scattered reports of attempted voting fraud – in the southern city of Suruc, police stopped a speeding car with warning shots and found four bags of ballot papers inside – there was no clear evidence of cheating. The election took place under the state of emergency which Mr Erdogan imposed on Turkey after a failed coup attempt against him in 2016, which left 249 people dead. The government has arrested more than 50,000 people using its emergency powers.

Among those arrested was Selahattin Demirtas, the leader of the prokurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP). Mr Demirtas ran for president from his prison cell, even filming a party political broadcast from jail. “This election campaign will be remembered as a black stain in our political history,” he said.

The HDP appeared on course to cross the 10 per cent vote threshold it needed to win seats in parliament, while Mr Demirtas got around eight per cent of the vote in the presidential election, according to state media.

Both state media and private outlets have showered Mr Erdogan with positive coverage and largely ignored the opposition. The CHP calculated that Mr Erdogan received 12 times more coverage than Mr Ince, while the smaller opposition candidates were almost ignored entirely.

Mr Ince breathed new life into the CHP, the secular party which founded the Turkish republic and once dominated the country’s politics, and offered Mr Erdogan his sternest election challenge in years. Over the course of 107 rallies in 51 days, Mr Ince railed against Mr Erdogan in fiery terms, often pacing on top of his campaign bus as he denounced the president for losing touch with the Turkish public.