Turkish presidential race appears to go to second run

Turkey’s presidential election appears likely to go to a second run after acting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on Sunday unable to secure 50 percent of votes. 

 

With 97.95% of votes counted on Monday, state-run Anadolu news agency said Erdogan had secured 49.34 percent of votes, while his key opponent Kemal Kilicdarouglu could obtain  44.99 percent of votes in the fiercely contested race. 

 

The third candidate, Sinan Ogan, received 5.28 percent of votes, giving him the possibility to be a kingmaker in the runoff. 

 

Kilicdaroglu has already welcomed the prospect of a runoff vote and said his party would “definitely win” in the May 28 runoff.