Ankara – Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday were healthy,
the head of the High Electoral Board (YSK) said on Monday, after unofficial results showed President Tayyip
Erdogan and the alliance of his ruling AK Party winning both votes.
Speaking to newsmen in Ankara, Sadi Guven said the YSK had registered 99.91 per cent of the votes, and
that the final results would be opened to the public in 10 or 11 days.
Erdogan emerged victorious on Monday from his biggest electoral challenge in a decade and a half, giving him
the sweeping, executive powers he has long sought and extending his grip on the nation of 81 million
until at least 2023.
The most popular – yet divisive – leader in modern Turkish history, Erdogan pledged there would be no retreat
from his drive to transform Turkey, a deeply polarised nation that is both a NATO member and, at least
nominally, a candidate to join the European Union.
Erdogan, 64, and his ruling AK Party on Sunday claimed victory in presidential and parliamentary polls,
overcoming a revitalized opposition that in recent weeks had gained considerable momentum and looked
capable of staging an upset.
He took 52.5 per cent of the vote in the presidential race, with more than 99 per cent of the votes counted.
His AK Party took 42.5 per cent in the parliamentary polls, and was boosted by its nationalist allies, which
outstripped expectations and took 11.1 per cent.
“It is out of the question for us to turn back from where we’ve brought our country in terms of democracy
and the economy,” Erdogan said in an address on Sunday.
Voter turnout was high, at nearly 87 per cent.
The lira TRYTOM=D3 currency, which has lost some 20 per cent of its value this year, rallied some two per cent
in early trade, while stocks .XU100 surged nearly four per cent as investors bet that the result would lead
to political stability – a positive for financial markets.
Although investors have been nervous about Erdogan’s tightening grip on power, there had been concern that
the outcome of the election could lead to policy uncertainty.
The main opposition will have 146, the pro-Kurdish HDP 67 and the breakaway nationalist Iyi Party 44.
The opposition had said late on Sunday it was still too early to concede defeat.
The main opposition’s candidate, the combative former teacher Muharrem Ince, took nearly 31 per cent.
Ince’s silence in the aftermath of the vote brought him widespread criticism from supporters on social media.
He was due to speak at a news conference at 0900 GMT.
Erdogan has repeatedly cast his opponents as enemies of democracy, tapping into the groundswell of nationalist
feeling that followed a failed coup in 2016.