Turkish presidential election heads to runoff as Erdoğan falls short of majority

AKP supporters wait for the election results in Istanbul on May 14, 2023. - Copyright AFP

By Euronews with AP, AFP

Published on 14/05/2023 - 09:45•Updated 20/05/2023 - 22:53

The second round of voting will be held on 28 May after neither candidate reached a 50% threshold for victory.

Turkey's presidential election is going to a runoff after none of the candidates managed to secure an outright win, despite incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan leading main competitor Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

The President of the Supreme Electoral Council of Turkey, Ahmet Yener, confirmed the second round with 35,000 votes left to be counted – not enough to suffice Erdoğan's tally of 49.5% votes over the threshold.

Despite narrowly trailing in the opinion polls, Erdoğan persisted in the first round and is expected to be the front-runner in the May 28 poll.

Opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, meanwhile accepted the runoff, predicting he will prevail against Erdoğan in an address overnight.

Read our live blog from Sunday and Monday to see how the voting and counting unfolded over the past two days:

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Turkish presidential election heads to runoff as Erdoğan falls short of majority

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