Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared victory Sunday evening after it became clear he had won re-election in the country’s runoff electoral race.
Türkiye’s President Erdogan on election victory:
– We completed presidential run-off election with people's support
– I thank all who cast their ballots
– We've been given responsibility to govern for another 5 years pic.twitter.com/YDayMm5PSU— TRT World (@trtworld) May 28, 2023
With 98.9 percent of the votes counted, Erdogan had established a clear lead over his opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Erdogan had won with 52.07 percent of the vote, and his rival received 47.93 percent of the vote, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey for 20 years, will serve another five year term. He thanked Turkish citizens for coming out to vote.
“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,” Erdogan said, standing on top of a bus to deliver his victory speech.
“The winners of both the 14 May elections and the 28 May elections are all our 85 million citizens.”
