Although there will undoubtedly be all manner of controversy and allegations of voter fraud, the bottom line for now appears to be that Erdogan is the “winner” in Sunday’s landmark election in Turkey.
The full preview is here for those who want the backstory and some color on what the various possible outcomes might mean for markets, but barring some kind of truly dramatic turn, it looks like Erdogan has engineered a victory, thus proving that this was a foregone conclusion or, more to the point, a complete farce.
Here’s state-run TRT with the speech and the original call (oh, and do note how Erdogan is calling this “a lesson in democracy for the rest of the world”);
President Erdogan says unofficial results show he has won Turkey's presidential election and thanks his supporters for the #TurkeyElections victory pic.twitter.com/liaf4dWAaX
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) June 24, 2018
"With almost 90 percent turn out rate in the elections, Turkey has given a very good democracy lesson to all the world" Turkey's President Erdogan addresses the nation following his victory in #TurkeyElections pic.twitter.com/ScBSo9RoHr
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) June 24, 2018
Turkey elects Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the first president in the new system. https://t.co/A8JFaOmCcM #TurkeyElections
— TRT World (@trtworld) June 24, 2018
And here’s a fun graphic:
For their part, Anadolu Agency says that with 92% of ballot boxes reporting, Erdogan has 53% with CHP’s Muharrem Ince logging 30.6%.
Again, this will be disputed. For instance, we’re already getting this:
- TURKEY CHP’S TEZCAN SAYS ELECTION IS HEADING TO A SECOND ROUND
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has claimed victory in today’s elections. But the opposition are still disputing the result. pic.twitter.com/BNhClEoNew
— Laura Pitel (@laurapitel) June 24, 2018
But AA is running stories about world leaders calling to congratulate Erdogan and hilariously, the first such call apparently came from Orban. Here’s AA:
As votes continue to be counted in Turkey’s Sunday presidential and parliamentary elections, world leaders are congratulating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his election success.
The first congratulation from an EU country came from Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, according to presidential sources.
Even funnier is the following, also from AA, which finds AKP asserting that everyone can trust the results because, effectively, they are guaranteed by Erdogan:
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party has called on all political parties to respect Sunday’s election results.
All votes cast in the elections are under AK Party guarantee, Mahir Unal, AK Party spokesman, told reporters in the capital Ankara Sunday evening as results showed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the lead, and the ruling party also leading in parliamentary polls.
Unal said that the security of not only AK Party votes but votes for all political parties are “our honor.”
Folks are celebrating:
#LIVE | AK Party supporters celebrating Erdogan's election success in Skopje https://t.co/cJtjShW652 pic.twitter.com/WTb967PMUt
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) June 24, 2018
On the parliamentary front, AA says the AKP-MHP alliance is at 54%.
