President Erdogan says 'well ahead' in election race as Türkiye awaits final results

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the People's Alliance is "well ahead" in Sunday's parliamentary and presidential elections, though final results have yet to be announced.

"Our country has completed another festival of democracy with the May 14 elections. Although the exact results are not clear yet, we are well ahead," Erdogan said in an address to the nation from the balcony of his Justice and Development (AK) Party's headquarters in the capital Ankara.

His remarks came after millions of voters went to the polls on Sunday to elect the country's next president and the members of its 600-seat parliament.

Underlining that he expected his alliance's lead to widen when the final results were released, Erdogan said he had around 2.6 million more votes than his closest competitor Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and joint candidate for the six-party opposition Nation Alliance.

"We believe that we will finish this round with over 50% of the votes," added Erdogan.

Underscoring the large turnout in the elections, Erdogan said the figure was "one of the highest in our history."