Turkey braced Monday for its first election runoff after a
night of high drama showed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan edging ahead of his
secular rival but failing to secure a first-round win, AFP reported.
اضافة اعلان
Erdogan sounded triumphant as he emerged before a sea of supporters
shortly after midnight to proclaim himself ready to lead the nation for another
five years.
Almost complete results from Turkey's most
important election of its post-Ottoman era showed Erdogan — in power since 2003
and undefeated in more than a dozen national votes — falling just short of the
50-percent threshold needed, according to AFP.
"I wholeheartedly believe that we will continue to
serve our people in the coming five years," the 69-year-old leader said to
huge cheers.
He also claimed his Islamic-ruling party its
ultranationalist allies had captured a clear majority in parliament.
Figures from the Anadolu state news agency showed Erdogan
picking up 49.4 percent of the vote.
Opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu was trailing with 45.0
percent — a disappointing outcome after late pre-election polls showed him in
the lead.
Turkey's first presidential runoff in the mostly Muslim but
officially secular state's 100-year history is planned for May 28.
Kilicdaroglu's camp had initially contested the vote count
and claimed to be in the lead.
But the 74-year-old looked slightly despondent as he faced
reporters early Monday and admitted that a runoff seemed inevitable.
"If our nation says second round, we will absolutely
win in the second round," he said.
"The will for change in the society is higher than 50
percent."
High stakesTurnout was expected to reach 90 percent in what has become
a referendum on Turkey's longest-serving leader and his Islamic-rooted party.
Erdogan has steered the nation of 85 million through one of
its most transformative and divisive eras.
Turkey has grown into a military and geopolitical
heavyweight that plays roles in conflicts from Syria to Ukraine.
The NATO member's footprint in both Europe and the Middle
East makes the election's outcome as critical for Washington and Brussels as it
is for Damascus and Moscow.
Erdogan is lionized across swathes of conservative Turkey
that witnessed a development boom during his rule, AFP reported.
More religious voters are also grateful for his decision to
lift secular-era restrictions on headscarves and introduce more Islamic
schools.
"The most important thing is that we do not divide
Turkey," Istanbul voter Recep Turktan told AFP after casting his ballot
for the Turkish leaders.
"We will carry out our duty. I say, go on with
Erdogan," the 67-year-old said.
We all missed democracyErdogan's first decade of economic revival and warming
relations with Europe was followed by a second one filled with social and
political turmoil.
He responded to a failed 2016 coup attempt with sweeping
purges that sent chills through Turkish society and made him an increasingly
uncomfortable partner for the West.
The emergence of Kilicdaroglu and his six-party opposition
alliance — the type of broad-based coalition Erdogan excelled at forging
throughout his career — gives foreign allies and Turkish voters a clear
alternative.
A runoff in two weeks could give Erdogan time to regroup and
reframe the debate.
But he would still be hounded by Turkey's most dire economic
crisis of his time in power, and disquiet over his government's stuttering
response to the February earthquake that claimed more than 50,000 lives.
"We all missed democracy," Kilicdaroglu said after
voting in the capital Ankara. "You will see, God willing, spring will come
to this country."
'Can't see my future' Pre-election polls indicated Kilicdaroglu would win the
youth vote — nearly 10 percent of the electorate — by a two-to-one margin.
"I can't see my future," university student Kivanc
Dal, 18, told AFP in Istanbul on the eve of the vote.
Erdogan "can build as many tanks and weapons as he
wants, but I have no respect for that as long as there is no penny in my
pocket".
But nursery schoolteacher Deniz Aydemir said Erdogan would
get her vote because of the economic and social progress Turkey made after half
a century of corruption-riddled secular rule.
The 46-year-old also questioned how a country could be ruled
by a coalition of six parties — a favorite attack line of Erdogan's during the
campaign.
"Yes, there are high prices ... but at least there is
prosperity," she said.
Erdogan's campaign became increasingly tailored to his core
supporters as Election Day neared.
He branded the opposition a "pro-LGBT" lobby that
took orders from outlawed Kurdish militants and was bankrolled by the West.
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