Monitoring Desk: Results of Turkey Elections are pouring out and the success of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is clear as he is leading in Turkish elections which were held today (June 24, 2018) to elect the new President and members of parliament.
This election is also a sort of Referendum for introducing a new political system for Turkey which will be a mixed of an Executive Presidency and subordinated Parliament.
According to Turkish media, turnout on June 24 was very high as around 87 percent registered voters used their right of voting.
Available data indicates that pro-Kurdish HDP party will enter the Parliament as it has already crossed 10% threshold of total votes counted so far.
#hdp passes 10% threshold. #elections #turkey pic.twitter.com/IYdUbhWGVm
— Frederike Geerdink (@fgeerdink) June 24, 2018
Despite various obstacles, pro-Kurdish HDP supporters—including the old, the sick, & a new bride—made their way to the polling station to ensure their message is delivered to Erdoğan & his ruling party: #TAMAM | #HDP #TurkeyElection #Seçim2018 pic.twitter.com/Lwxg1Y54km
— Samira Ghaderi (@Samira_Ghaderi) June 24, 2018
According to official media reports, over 47 percent of the votes were counted till the filing of this report (1730 hours GMT) and AK Party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was leading the polls by getting over 56 percent of total votes counted so far. Second in competition was CHP’s Muharrem Ince with 28 percent of counted votes
The polling started for Presidential and Parliamentary elections at 8:00 am local time (GMT 0500) on Sunday for 59 million Turks voters to choose their new President and the Parliament. As many as 180,000 ballot boxes were installed across the country for polling process which lasted till 5:00 pm (1400 GMT).
It is pertinent to mention that a constitutional referendum that was held on April 16, 2017 approved changes expanding the powers of the Turkish President and today’s elections were the first after this change in political system. If President Erdogan wins the elections, it indicates that constitutional referendum was a positive move to consolidate President Erdogan for next 5 to 10 years.
More results from Turkey:
60.9% reporting. Some places like Istanbul and rurals are over-reporting, the coast and the Kurds are under-reporting
Erdogan – 56%
Ince – 28.9%
Aksener – 7.5%
Demitras – 6.5% #TurkeyElections2018 #TurkeyElection #TurkishElection #ElectionTwitter pic.twitter.com/UT6vNxsEZ3— OryxMaps (@OryxMaps) June 24, 2018
Pretty calm outside courthouse where votes are being counted in Diyarbakir now. Should just be minutes now until votes here are counted and we know they are safe #TurkishElections #Secim2018 pic.twitter.com/3vjfNLGUTg
— Emily Apple (@emilyapple) June 24, 2018
Eight political parties participated in elections and six candidates, including current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, were running for the slot of new president.
It is interesting to note that lawmakers are chosen in only one round from lists prepared for each of Turkey’s 81 provinces. The 600 seats are allocated in proportion to the number of votes the lawmaker candidate receives.
