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Erdogan wins Presidential election

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Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been re-elected for a second five-year term, securing victory after the first round in the country’s presidential election.

Turkish state media Anadolu news agency reported Erdogan had won 53 per cent of the vote with 99 per cent of votes counted. His closest rival, Muharrem Ince of the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP), won 31 per cent.

Giving a victory speech in Istanbul, Erdogan said: “I have been entrusted by the nation with the task and duties of the Presidency. Turkey has given a lesson in democracy to the entire world.”

This was the first time that Turks voted in a presidential and parliamentary election at the same time. Erdogan also declared victory in the parliamentary vote, saying that the alliance led by his Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) had won a majority.

With 99 per cent of the votes counted, the AKP and the MHP had won 293 and 50 seats respectively, enough for a majority in the 600-member chamber.

The Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) is expected to win 11.5 per cent, clearing the 10 per cent minimum parliamentary threshold, winning 67 seats. This would make it the second largest opposition party. As a result, there were also celebrations in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir. HDP leader Selahattin Demirtaş has been in prison since November 2016 when he was arrested due to his alleged connection to outlawed Kurdish militants.

This was Turkey’s first election under a new constitution agreed in an April 2017 referendum. Opposition parties say the new constitution grants autocratic powers to the President because it removes the post of Prime Minister.

Following his victory, Erdogan was congratulated by regional allies including Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Haniyeh said he would send a delegation to Turkey in the coming days, with a view to further strengthen relations.

Erdogan first came to power in 2002 leading an Islamic revival in Turkey after years of secular domination. For the last two years, he has ruled under a state of emergency imposed after a failed coup in 2016. Thousands of government officials were arrested with more than a hundred thousand losing their jobs and more than a hundred journalists have been imprisoned.