May 14 (UPI) — As polls closed Sunday in national elections in Turkey, long-serving President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was expected to learn soon if he will keep his post or face a runoff election.
With more than 90 percent of the vote tally in, Turkish media outlets were reporting that Erdogan’s share of the vote had dropped below 50 percent, according to the Guardian. If no candidate gets a majority of the vote, then the election will go to a run-off.
Erdogan is trying to recover from complaints about the government’s response to a devastating earthquake and financial crisis that saw inflation skyrocket. Polls show he is in a tight race with leading opposition opponent Kemal Kılıcdaroglu, who has also taken advantage of Erdogan’s turn to a more-authoritarian style of governing over the years.
Erdogan had not been able to move polls to a larger lead despite being in control of the media and messaging in the country. The high interest in the election leading up to the opening of the polls appeared to play out on Sunday.
“We are expecting a record turnout in Istanbul, and there are also reports that this is the same across Turkey,” Canan Kaftancıoglu, the Istanbul chair of Kılıçdaroglu’s CHP party, said. “Except for one or two individual cases, I would say that our citizens completed the voting process without any trouble or problem.”
Erdogan issued a post on Twitter, promising to”protect the will of our nation,” despite some concerns that he could object to the election if he does not win.
“The voting process was completed in a way that befits our democracy, thank God,” Erdogan said. “Now, as always, it’s time to hold tight to the ballot boxes. Until the results are final, we continue to protect the will of our nation!”