Turkey’s Erdoğan Defeats Kilicdaroglu, Wins Third Term Election

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has won Turkey’s run-off presidential election to seal another five-year term, according to official preliminary results that marked an end to a determined opposition effort to unseat the longtime leader.

Erdoğan received 53.41% of the votes, electoral chief Ahmet Yener said on Sunday evening, after 99.43% of the ballots had been counted.

His rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu received 46.59% according to the preliminary figures, Yener said.

Erdoğan – who claimed victory hours before the official announcement – can now remain in his seat for another five years and for a third time. The 69-year-old became prime minister in 2003. The parliament voted him as president in 2014.

“You gave us this mission. We will continue to build a Turkish century all together,” he told a massive crowd from the balcony of the presidential palace in Ankara. “All of Turkey has won. Democracy has won,” he said, urging the country to unite.

The crowd cheered and taunted his rival, chanting: “Bye bye, Kemal.”

During the evening, Erdoğan supporters lined the streets of cities in Turkey and beyond, waving flags and celebrating.

Since the introduction of a presidential system in 2018, he has more power than ever before, prompting fears his rule could become even more authoritarian.

Kılıçdaroğlu, who stood against him at the head of a broad coalition of opposition parties, thanked his supporters before the results were announced, but did not formally concede.

“I am sad much bigger problems await our country,” he said.