Turkey’s election board has declared Recep Tayyip Erdogan the winner of the country’s runoff vote, extending his presidency until 2028.
“Based on provisional results, it has been determined that Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been elected president,” Supreme Election Council Chairman Ahmet Yener was quoted as saying by Anadolu state news agency on Sunday.
He added that Erdogan has won the presidency by securing 52.14% of the votes after 99.43% of ballot boxes were opened.
Erdogan’s rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, received 47.86% of the votes, Yener said, adding that with a gap of more than 2 million votes between candidates, the rest of the uncounted votes will not change the result.
Yener had said in an earlier statement that the election was not marred by any voting irregularities and fraud.
Anadolu news agency put the voter turnout at about 85 percent.
This came after earlier on Sunday, Erdogan declared his victory in the runoff election, thanking Turkish voters for giving him a mandate to govern the country for the next five years.
Speaking from atop a bus in his home district in Istanbul on Sunday evening, Erdogan thanked the Turkish nation for voting and said he won the runoff vote against Kilicdaroglu with their support.
The runoff was held after both Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu failed to secure more than 50 percent of the votes required for an outright victory in the first round on May 14.
Erdogan had asked his supporters “to stay at the ballot boxes until results are finalized,” saying through a tweet, “Now is the time to protect the will of the people which we hold in the highest esteem.”
