As specialists and polls have been anticipating for weeks, the battle for the Turkish presidency will be close to the end. The current head of state and AKP candidate, Recep Tayyip Erdoganhas prevailed in the presidential elections to his main rival, the leader of the social democrat CHP and the National Alliance, Kemal Kilidarogluso the presidency will be decided on May 28 in second round. The candidacy of the current president, 69, obtained 49% of the votes, compared to 44% achieved by the leader of the National Alliance.
Based on the results, Erdogan leaves with more possibilities than his rival, the candidate of the National Alliance – a grouping made up of six parties of different political orientation, including nationalists, Islamists and secularists – to become the next president of the Republic of Turkey on the centenary of its founding in the second lap. Although no one ever considered the veteran Turkish president defeated, certain polls and analyzes placed Kilidaroglu significantly ahead of Erdogan.
After ten thirty at night and no final results yet, Erdogan addressed the citizens through a series of tweets without yet proclaiming his victory. “The fact that the May 14 elections took place as a grand celebration of democracy with peace and quiet is an expression of Turkey’s democratic maturity.” The president, who has led the country for two decades -11 years as prime minister and nine as president-, took the opportunity to attack the opposition by stating that “while the elections took place in a democratic atmosphere and in full scrutiny, trying to announce results in a hasty manner is equivalent to usurping the national will.”
