Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan celebrated yesterday winning sweeping new powers in a decisive election victory, as his main rival accepted the outcome despite complaints over an unequal campaign that alarmed the EU.
A night of triumph for Erdogan saw the man who has dominated Turkey for the last 15 years declared winner of Sunday’s presidential poll without needing a second round and lead his ruling party-led alliance to an overall majority in parliament.
Erdogan vowed to “rapidly” implement the new presidential system agreed in an April 2017 referendum that opponents fear will give him autocratic powers and keep him in office for two five year mandates to 2028.
The new system creates a vertical of power with Erdogan at the top, giving him the power to appoint cabinet ministers and dispensing with the office of prime minister.
The president, 64, declared victory in Istanbul before returning to Ankara to deliver a triumphant speech at 3am to tens of thousands of supporters from the balcony of the headquarters of his Justice and Development Party (AKP).
“Turkey has given a lesson in democracy to the entire world,” he added, pointing to a turnout of 88%.
“Turkey has made its choice in favour of protecting its democracy, its rights and freedoms, maintaining its reforms,” Erdogan said after the Supreme Election Council declared him the winner early yesterday. “I thank all of my citizens, no matter from which party, who went to the ballot box to exercise their democratic right.”
His victory means he will remain president at least until 2023 – the centenary of the founding of the Turkish republic on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
Erdogan’s foes accuse him of dismantling Ataturk’s secular legacy by bringing religion back into public life.
Erdogan responds to such criticism by saying he is trying to modernise Turkey and improve religious freedoms.
His main rival Muharrem Ince of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), who had challenged Erdogan with an energetic campaign, broke an uncharacteristic overnight silence to concede defeat.
“I accept these election results,” Ince said yesterday, adding that Erdogan should “represent 81mn” and be “president for us all”.
“Mr Erdogan, from today onwards do not behave like an AKP [ruling Justice and Development Party] chair. Be the president of 81mn. Embrace everyone from now on,” he said. “I would have done so if I were elected.”
However, Ince, who had faced limited airtime on television in the campaign and a near boycott by state media, said that the run-up to the election had been unfair.
“This election was unjust until the results were announced,” he told a news conference at CHP headquarters after ordering crews from state-run TRT to leave over their campaign coverage.
“Turkey has broken its connection with the 143 years of parliamentary system. We have switched literally to a one-man regime,” he said.
International observers said that voters enjoyed a “genuine choice” but decried the lack of “equal” conditions for candidates to campaign.
The team led by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said polling day procedures were “generally followed”, but pointed to issues over counting and tabulation.
The EU echoed the language of the OSCE in a notably chilly statement that did not congratulate Erdogan or mention him by name but asserted that campaign conditions were “not equal”.
The statement, issued by the bloc’s diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini and enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn, warned the new presidential system has “far reaching implications for Turkish democracy”
By contrast, congratulations for Erdogan flooded in from Turkey’s partners in the Islamic world and allies who also have tetchy relations with the West, such as Russian President Vladimir Putin who praised Erdogan’s “great political authority”.
The Kremlin statement even noted the “mass support of the course conducted under his leadership”.
Others congratulating Erdogan included Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and Hamas chief Ismail Haniya.
Erdogan has transformed Turkey first as prime minister from 2003 to 2014 and then as president, allowing Islam a greater role in public life and giving the country a much more assertive profile on the international stage.
However, critics accuse him of ruling with an iron grip, especially after the July 2016 failed coup which was followed by a state of emergency that has seen tens of thousands of people arrested.
According to results published by the state news agency Anadolu, Erdogan won 52.6% of the vote, with Ince trailing with 30.6%.
The results mean Erdogan, who enjoys sky-high support in parts of the Anatolian heart of the country, improved on his 51.8% score from 2014.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) candidate Selahattin Demirtas came third with 8.4%, a performance all the more remarkable given that he has been jailed on charges of links to Kurdish militants since November 2016.
With Turkey holding parliamentary and presidential elections on the same day for the first time, Erdogan was also able to enjoy an overall majority in parliament with the help of his allies from the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
The AKP won 295 seats in the 600-MP chamber but the MHP did far better than expected, winning 49 seats and giving their alliance a clear majority, according to results published by Anadolu.
The HDP easily broke through the 10% minimum vote threshold to clinch up 67 seats, sparking wild celebrations in its Kurdish-majority stronghold of Diyarbakir.
In a tweet, Demirtas hailed a “great victory” despite suffering “the biggest injustice of the campaign”.
“I congratulate my party HDP, which passed the threshold despite emergency rule, pressure and unequal conditions,” he wrote. “The biggest injustice of the election was that I was forced to lead the election campaign under detention conditions.”
The official final results of Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections will be announced on July 5, state-run Anadolu news agency quoted election council chief Sadi Guven as saying yesterday.
Parties have until 10am today to appeal the results.
The new parliament is expected to convene on July 8 when lawmakers and Erdogan are expected to be sworn in, Anadolu said.
This handout picture released yesterday shows Erdogan waving to supporters from a balcony at the AKP headquarters in Ankara, late on Sunday as they celebrate his election victory.
