Turkey elections not finalised: Runoff likely

The official results of the Turkish general elections look like going to a second round which will take place on May 28.

Neither Erdogan nor his rival, Kemel Kilicdarogluk have cleared the 50 per cent needed to avoid a second-round runoff.

Mujtaba Rahman of the Euroasis Group tweeted this morning (May 15) how much better Erdogan has done despite expectations and that a Kilicdarogluk win is unlikely.

🇹🇷: All momentum now w Erdogan. Has taken Parliament, despite expectations to contrary. Has performed much better in 1st round of Presidential vote than polls predicted. Has incumbency advantages. For these & many other reasons a @kilicdarogluk win on 28 May is now very unlikely

— Mujtaba Rahman (@Mij_Europe) May 15, 2023

Erdogan who spoke in the early hours of Monday morning said he thought he had enough votes to win outright, but that he would accept a runoff, but he accused others of trying to “deceive the nation” by claiming they were in the lead.

But Kilicdarogluk said although he too would accept a runoff, he was sure he would win it and that no one should be “enthusiastic about this being a done deal.”

The YSK said there had been delays in counting votes from overseas but confirmed that 91 per cent of the votes had been counted.

However, Kilicdarogluk said delays were being caused by votes being blocked by repeated objections.

He tweeted “Do not block the will of this nation. I call to our democracy workers on the field. Never leave the ballot boxes and election boards. We are here until every single vote is counted.”

It would appear that Erdogan will once again lead the country as president and as a result, the pound fell against the lira as investors showed their disappointment that there was not an Erdogan defeat.