Erdogan and Kiliçdaroglu neck and neck, a second round is looming

A second round of the presidential election is looming in Türkiye. At the end of the evening, Sunday May 14, Recep Tayyip Erdogan was neck and neck with his opponent Kemal Kiliçdaroglu. Ihe state agency Anadolu put the incumbent president under 50% for the first time while nearly 90% of the ballot boxes were opened. Precisely, at 10 p.m. (Paris time), the Head of State collected 49.94% of the votes (against 44.38% for the main opposition candidate Kemal Kiliçdaroglu).

As anticipated by observers, the ballot promises to be tight between the outgoing president and Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The two candidates also called the scrutineers of their respective camps “stay put” until the end of the count. Silent since the closing of the polls, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indeed published a long message on Twitter to ask his supporters to “stay close to the polls, no matter what”.

Opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu also urged observers and his supporters not to leave the polls. “We won’t sleep tonight”, he tweeted at almost the same time.

The last candidate in the running, the former far-right MP Sinan Ogan, was credited Sunday evening with around 5% of the vote. “We see a high probability that the elections are heading for a second round”he posted on Twitter.

To be elected in the first round, a candidate must obtain a majority of 50% of the votes pread one. If no candidate exceeds 50% in the first round, a second round will then be organized on Sunday May 28. it’s about the symbolic anniversary date of the greatest popular protest movement that shook power in 2003.

In 2018, during the last presidential election, the head of state, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, won in the first round with more than 52.5% of the vote.