Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared victory after leading in the country’s runoff election. His declaration of victory came after more than 75% counting was completed in which he was leading over his rival by more than 6% votes.
After the counting of 75.42% votes, Erdogan had polled 53.41% votes while his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu had only managed 46.59%.
Sunday’s runoff election was necessitated after Erdogan failed to secure an outright majority in the first round on 14 May, but led Kilicdaroglu by 5%.
Erdogan, who has been ruling Turkey for two decades, addressed a large crowd outside his residence as he declared his victory.
“I would like to thank each and every member of my nation who gave us the responsibility of governing our country for five years with their choice,” Erdogan was quoted by CNN as saying.
He added, “Hopefully, we will be worthy of your trust as it has been for 21 years.”
High inflation, economic woes and handling of this year’s devastating earthquakes were some of the key issues dominating the election campaign.
Erdogan told his supporters, “We completed the second round of the presidential election with the favor of our nation. I would like to express my gratitude to my nation for giving us a day of democracy.
“The winners of both the 14 May elections and the 28 May elections are all our 85 million citizens.”