Results Warn Run-off in Turkey

Votes are continuing to be counted and become known there may be a decisive runoff between Erdogan and his main opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

Final results released after the vote count, whether in a few days or after the second round of voting is held within two weeks, will determine whether Turkey's state, Turkey's ally NATO, remains under Erdogan's control or resumes a more democratic journey promised by opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

Speaking to supporters in Ankara, Erdogan, 69-year-old, said he could still win, but that he would respect the citizens' decision if the race moves towards a runoff in two weeks.

“We still do not know whether the elections ended in the first round... if our nation has chosen for a second round, this is also welcome”, Erdogan said on Monday morning, noting that it is continuing to count even the votes of Turkish citizens living abroad.

He garnered 60 percent of diaspora votes in 2018.

This year's elections in Turkey focused mainly on domestic issues such as the economy, civil rights and the February earthquake that left more than 50,000 people dead.

With the informal count almost finished, voter support for the current president had fallen below the required majority to win. Erdogan has so far received 49.3 per cent of the vote, while Kilicdaroglu, 45 per cent, according to state news agency Anadolu.

“We will absolutely win the second round... and bring democracy”, said Kilicdaroglu, 74, candidate of a six-party alliance, arguing that Erdogan had lost the confidence of a nation that now requires change.

Turkey's election authority, the High Election Board, said it would make public the results once the count is finished.

According to the board, the count of most of the ballots by 3.4 million eligible voters abroad is expected, and the runoff of the May 28th election is not guaranteed.

More than 64 million people, including voters abroad, were eligible to vote and nearly 89% of them voted.

Voter turnout in Turkey is traditionally great, despite the government's suppressing freedom of expression and rallying over the years, especially since a coup effort in 2016.

At the international level, these elections were seen as a test of the ability of a united opposition to remove a leader who has concentrated almost all state powers on his own hands, and has worked to further influence the international scene.