Turkish Supreme Election Council officially declares Erdogan winner of presidential runoff

By Dilara Hamit

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish Supreme Election Council officially declared Recep Tayyip Erdogan the winner of the Turkish presidential election runoff with 52.18% of the votes on Thursday.

Ahmet Yener, the chairman of the election council, announced the official results of the May 28 presidential runoff in the capital Ankara.

The final results of the second round of voting in the presidential election conducted on May 28 have been forwarded to the Official Gazette for publication, Yener said.

He added that the final results showed that Recep Tayyip Erdogan received 52.18% of the votes and opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu got 47.82%.

Yener also noted that with the completion of the voting procedure overseas on May 24, 2023, before the voting day in the country, the transfers were performed from 73 countries, 151 representative offices, and 16 centers.

He also noted that there was a participation rate of 88.92% domestically and 53.80% abroad. The total participation rate, including domestic, international, and customs, was found to be 87.05%.

The May 14 elections were definitive for parliament, but in the presidential polls the same day no candidate got the 50% needed for an outright victory, though President Erdogan had the lead.