Turkey under new presidential system post-elections
The head of Turkey’s Supreme Election Council has confirmed Erdogan’s victory in the election and says the official results will be announced on July 5. Meanwhile, CHP’s Ince, Erdogan’s main rival in the presidential race has conceded defeat.
President of Turkey and leader of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) greets the crowd from the balcony of the ruling AK Party’s headquarters following his election success in presidential and parliamentary elections in Ankara, Turkey on June 25, 2018. (AA)
Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday declared victory in Turkey’s presidential election after unofficial results showed that he had won 52.6 percent of the vote.
Although the head of Turkey’s Supreme Election Council, Sadi Guven, confirmed Erdogan’s victory he added that the official results will be announced on July 5.
The People’s Alliance, between Erdogan’s AK Party and the nationalist MHP, also secured a parliamentary majority with a combined share of 53.7 percent, according to the unofficial results.
Erdogan, whose victory was wider than predicted by many analysts, vowed to “rapidly” implement the new presidential system agreed in an April 2017 referendum.
The 64-year-old president, the most popular leader in recent decades, told jubilant, flag-waving supporters there would be no retreat from his drive to transform Turkey, a NATO member and a candidate to join the European Union.
He is loved by millions of working class Turkish citizens for delivering years of stellar economic growth and overseeing the construction of roads, bridges, airports, hospitals and schools.
Erdogan’s main rival in the presidential race, Muharrem Ince of the CHP, has conceded elections defeat during a press conference on Monday.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been elected as the first executive president of Turkey under the new presidential system. (TRTWorld)
The CHP’s candidate for the presidential race came in second with 30.6 percent of the vote.
Ince’s succeeded in securing 30.6 percent of the presidential vote, which is a first for any CHP contestant in decades.
The CHP’s share of parliamentary votes, under the leadership of Kemal Kilicdaroglu, dropped by almost 3 percentage points to 22.6 percent as compared to the results of the November 2015 elections.
Ince, in his press conference, signaled that he could lead the CHP for the next elections to secure at least 30 percent, as he had already proved that he could attain the votes.
He also denied the claims that he was threatened and urged Erdogan to become the president for all and stated that he thinks Turkey wouldn’t be “divided.”
Addressing the nation in his balcony speech on Sunday, Erdogan promised to improve the state of personal rights and freedoms in Turkey.
Erdogan continues to receive congratulatory messages, which began even before the completion of the vote count on Sunday.
Several world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, President of Bosnian presidency Bakir Izetbegovic, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain.
Ak Party’s alliance with Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the People’s Alliance, secured a majority of seats in parliamentary elections on Sunday. (TRTWorld)
Drop in AK Party vote share
In his Sunday speech, Erdogan mentioned almost the 7 percentage-point drop in votes for his governing AK Party from 49.5 percent to 42.6, saying “we have received the message that has been given to us in the ballot boxes.”
The opposition parties’ alliance, the Nation’s Alliance, which consists of the CHP, the Iyi Party and the Saadet Party, will have 190 MPs; the People’s Alliance will have 344 MPs in the 600-member chamber.
The AK Party secured 295 seats of the parliamentary share. Currently, the governing party has 316 seats in the 550-seat parliament.
Erdogan now faces a number of challenges, including the country’s ties with the US and the EU, the economy, which has recently seen a spike in the inflation rate and a depreciation in the lira value as compared to the US dollar, as well as the war in Syria, the refugee influx and the battle against the PKK and Daesh terrorist groups.
The president said he needed a stronger mandate to deal with Turkey’s economy and security issues in the region, including the fight against terror.
Erdogan: ‘Fight against terror will continue’
In his victory speech, Erdogan also reiterated his comments regarding foreign policy, especially in neighbouring Syria, which has been going through a violent war in the last seven years, saying that Turkey would continue its operations against the terror groups in Syria, so that refugees can return to Syria safely. Turkey has been accommodating more than 3.5 million refugees.
For Erdogan, Turkey’s policy in Syria will have an impact within Turkey. Under his rule, a de-facto secure zone has been created along the Turkish-Syrian border, so thousands of Syrians could be relocated in that area.
The Turkish military is currently engaged in two anti-terror operations in northern Iraq’s Qandil mountains and Syria’s Afrin region against the PKK and its branches.
In August 2016, Turkey conducted a military operation, Operation Euphrates Shield, in northern Syria to clear out Daesh and PKK terrorists from its borders.
A second military operation on the border, Operation Olive Branch, followed Operation Euphrates at the western part of the Turkey-Syria border in January 2018.
Both operations came after a year of intense terror attacks conducted by both PKK and its affiliates as well as Daesh in Turkey in 2016.
