Too tough to… die is proving to be Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who, despite forecasts and opinion polls showing him lagging behind the opposition coalition, managed to garner the largest percentage in the first round of Turkey’s presidential election.

The Turkish president wins with a percentage of 49.63%, in 93.67% of the count, compared to 44.63% gathered by his political opponent and head of the coalition of opposition parties, Kemal Kilicdaroglu and 5.29% of Sinan Ogan

Although Turkey is headed for repeat presidential elections, which will be held on May 28, Sunday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s victory over the opposition, with a fairly large margin, nevertheless amounts to a major reversal of the data, laying new foundations for the next day in our neighboring country.

An important detail, which may decide the outcome of the repeat elections, which are also expected to develop into a thriller, is the following. The key to the run-off, everything indicates, will be the voters of Ogan, who gathered a percentage of more than 5%, turning the tide in his turn. If the voters of the third contender for the Turkish presidency choose Erdogan, the current president is expected to be re-elected by a significant margin. Otherwise, the battle for the presidency will be inconclusive until the end.

The first round of the Turkish presidential election essentially turned into a thriller with Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the protagonist, who, after more than 20 years in power, shows that he has much more endurance than the opposition had thought.

Early on, when Erdogan’s electoral superiority over his rival began to show, thousands of his supporters poured into the streets and celebrated with Turkish flags, posters of the Turkish president, smoke bombs and victory slogans.

Turkey

Erdogan and Kilicondaroglu posts about the result

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at 10:00pm today that rushing to announce election results while the counting of votes is still going on would mean stealing the will of the people, while his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu warned the electoral authorities to record all results at national level.

“While the election was held in such a positive and democratic atmosphere and the counting of votes continues, trying to announce results in a hurry means usurping the national will,” Erdogan tweeted in his first message after voting closed.

Kilicdaroglu said in his own Twitter post: “We will not sleep tonight,” warning that all ballots must be counted.

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