Erdoğan on track for win in Turkey’s presidential elections

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emPress Office of the the Turkish Presidency/em
Press Office of the the Turkish Presidency

With almost 80 percent of the votes counted in Turkey’s presidential elections, incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is predicted to emerge as the winner yet again with a 54.4 percent lead.

Main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) presidential candidate Muharrem Ince has so far received 29.8 percent of the votes.

Erdoğan on track for win in Turkey's presidential elections
AK Party supporters head to Huber Mansion, Erdoğan’s official residence in Istanbul, start to celebrate the election outcome as preliminary results suggest victory for the incumbent president

Meanwhile, the newly formed Good Party’s (İP)’ presidential candidate Meral Akşener gets 7.5 percent of the votes and the pro-PKK Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) candidate Selahattin Demirtaş has won 7.2 percent.

Temel Karamollaoğlu for the Felicity Party (SP) had 0.9 percent of the votes and Patriotic Party (VP) Chairman Doğu Perinçek managed to garner only 0.2 percent of the votes.

In the parliamentary elections, the People’s Alliance formed between the AK Party and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) received 55.8 percent of the votes with 72.1 percent of the total votes counted.

Erdoğan on track for win in Turkey's presidential elections
Supporters of Turkish President Erdoğan hold Turkish and AK Party flags and greet after closing voting for the Turkish presidential and parliamentary elections in Ankara, Turkey, 24 June 2018

The National Alliance formed between the CHP, İP, and the SP collected 32.8 percent of the votes.

With the polls officially closed, electoral committees across the country’s 81 provinces have started counting ballots.

Votes were cast in 180,065 polling places across the country.

Voting at Turkish customs gates with adjoining countries, which began on June 7, has also ended.

Votes by Turks living abroad who cast their ballots in 60 countries at 123 embassies and consulates will be counted at the same time in the capital Ankara.

Source:Dailysabah.com