Türkiye to have runoff presidential poll on May 28 with Erdogan leading, Supreme Election Board head announces

Turkish supreme election board said on Monday that the country will be having a runoff presidential poll on May 28, with Erdoğan in the lead.

YSK Chairman Ahmet Yener told reporters that with around 35,000 votes left to be counted, Erdoğan had 49.51% support and his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu had 44.88%.

Yener stated that the candidates could not qualify to be elected in the Presidential Election, and it was decided to hold the second round of elections on Sunday, 28 May.

Voter turnout in Turkish elections is 88.92% as all domestic ballot boxes opened, with turnout abroad being 52.69%, Supreme Election Board (YSK) head announced.

ERDOĞAN SAYS 'WELL AHEAD' IN ELECTION RACE AS TÜRKIYE AWAITS FINAL RESULTS

Data entry continues for 35,874 ballots cast abroad, he noted.

Erdogan, joint candidate for the People's Alliance, and his closest competitor Kemal Kilicdaroglu, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) chair and joint candidate for the six-party opposition Nation Alliance, will face off in the second round.

Erdogan finished the first round with 49.51% of the vote, with Kilicdaroglu second at 44.88%, Yener said.

Sinan Ogan of the ATA (Ancestral) Alliance got 5.17%, while Muharrem Ince, who withdrew from the presidential race late last week after ballots had already been printed, got 0.44%, Yener added.

Millions of voters went to the polls on Sunday to elect the country's president and members of its 600-seat parliament.

More than 64.1 million people were registered to vote, including over 1.76 million who cast their ballots abroad and 4.9 million first-time voters.

A total of 192,214 ballot boxes were set up for voters in the country.

Every voter cast two ballots, one for the president and the other for parliamentary deputies, all of whom are set to serve five-year terms.

More than 30 political parties and over 150 independent parliamentary candidates competed in the elections.

There were five multiparty blocs in the running: the People's Alliance, Nation Alliance, Ancestral Alliance, Labor and Freedom Alliance, and Union of Socialist Forces Alliance.