Erdogan announces his victory for the third term, thanks to his voters
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced his victory in Turkey’s presidential election on Sunday. Erdogan’s win would steer his authoritarian rule into a third decade.
Erdogan is currently leading in the presidential runoff with 53.41% of the vote. His rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu obtained 46.59%, with 75.42% of the votes counted. Ahmet Yener, chairman of the Supreme Election Council announced the initial results of the runoff election.
On May 14, no candidate won the required 50% in the first round, which triggered the presidential runoff. Last time Erdogan took the lead with 49.52%. Erdogan’s electoral alliance also won a majority in parliament on May 14.
“We have completed the second-round presidential election with the favor of our nation,” Erdogan said, expressing his gratitude to the people of Turkey.
Addressing supporters on Sunday evening, Erdogan said his voters had given him the responsibility to rule for the next five years.
“The only winner is Turkey,” he said, addressing cheering supporters from atop a bus in Istanbul. Final official results have yet to be released.
Victory will reinforce Erdogan’s image of invincibility after having redrawn domestic, economic, security, and foreign policy in the NATO member country. Erdogan positioned Turkey as a regional power.
Meanwhile, thousands of his supporters assembled at his Istanbul residence to celebrate victory as data gave him the edge with nearly 99% of ballot boxes counted.
“All 85 million of our citizens are the winners of both the May 14 and May 28 elections,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by state-run Anadolu.
“We said ‘We will win in a way that no one will lose.’ So the only winner today is Turkey,” he stressed.
