Türkiye's presidential election goes to likely runoff with 93 pct of votes counted

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (1st L) casts his vote at a polling station in Istanbul, Türkiye, May 14, 2023. Turkish citizens headed to the polls on Sunday for twin presidential and parliamentary elections that could shape the Turkish political landscape for the upcoming years. Some 61 million voters are registered to cast their ballots. Around 3.5 million voters living abroad have been called to cast their votes in advance. More than 1.76 million Turks abroad have cast their votes at diplomatic missions and customs gates between April 27 and May 9. (Mustafa Kaya/Handout via Xinhua)

ANKARA, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye was heading toward a likely runoff presidential election as Sunday vote count showed neither of the candidates above the 50-percent threshold of the votes to win outright, according to preliminary results delivered by the semi-official Anadolu Agency early Monday.

Early results of Anadolu showed incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with a comfortable ahead compared to the opposition rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu, but the gap was narrowed as more votes were counted.

Erdogan received 49.67 percent of the vote when 93 percent of the ballots were counted, against 44.59 percent of the vote for opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the Anadolu reported. The third candidate Sinan Ogan garnered 5.3 percent of support.

If no presidential candidate secured a simple majority, or 50 percent, of the votes in the first round, a second ballot would be scheduled between the top two frontrunners on 28 May.

As the ballot boxes for the parliamentary election were also finishing counting, unofficial results showed that the People's Alliance, formed by Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the New Welfare Party and the Great Union Party, had 323 lawmakers, highest among three alliances that run for the 600-seat parliament.

The six-party opposition block Nation Alliance gained a total of 214 lawmakers and could not secure 360 seats required to hold a referendum for ending the current executive presidency that they pledged in their election campaign.

The Labor and Freedom Alliance, a coalition of left-wing political parties, had 63 lawmakers, with the Green Left Party gaining 60 seats and the Workers' Party of Türkiye 3 lawmakers.

Some 61 million voters are registered to cast their ballots. Around 3.5 million voters living abroad have been called to cast their votes in advance. The voter turnout was high at nearly 80 percent.

A voter casts his ballot at a polling station in Istanbul, Türkiye, May 14, 2023. (Photo by Omer Kuscu/Xinhua)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets with supporters outside a polling station in Istanbul, Türkiye, May 14, 2023. (Mustafa Kaya/Handout via Xinhua)

A woman prepares to cast her ballot at a polling station in Ankara, Türkiye, May 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Shadati)

Kemal Kilicdaroglu (C, front), the leader of the center-left Republican People's Party, casts his ballot at a polling station in Ankara, Türkiye, May 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Shadati)

A staff member shows the ballot paper at a polling station in Ankara, Türkiye, May 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Shadati)

Kemal Kilicdaroglu (C), the leader of the center-left Republican People's Party, casts his vote at a polling station in Ankara, Türkiye, May 14, 2023. (Mustafa Kaya/Handout via Xinhua)

A voter casts her ballot at a polling station in Istanbul, Türkiye, May 14, 2023. (Photo by Omer Kuscu/Xinhua)