Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is leading in the presidential elections, according to initial results, data from Turkey’s Supreme Election Council (SEC) show.
Erdogan, leader of the pro-Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), received 55.03 percent of the vote, according to data from 21.33% of ballots processed. Opposition presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu received 39% of the vote.
A total of 5.4 percent of voters cast their ballot for Sinan Ogan, the leader of the ATA Alliance, and 0.57 percent of voters cast their ballot for Muharrem Ince, the chairman of the Homeland Party, who announced earlier this week that he was withdrawing from the race, but the votes cast for him are still considered valid.
The SEC said that according to 11% of the ballots processed, the Turkish President’s Justice and Development Party has won 349 seats in the Turkish 600-seat Legislature in the parliamentary elections, while the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has won 98 seats.
Meanwhile, CHP leader Kilicdaroglu called for polling stations in the country not to be left unmonitored.
According to the Turkish opposition, the voter turnout in Sunday’s elections was 93.6%. Official figures from SEC are not yet available.
The elections started at 8:00 and lasted until 17:00 on Sunday. More than 64 million Turkish voters are eligible to vote.
Tight security measures were introduced across the country.
Local News Agencies
