Preliminary results from Türkiye’s presidential election show the incumbent, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with a comfortable lead over his opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. However, the majority of the ballots remain to be counted.
Polling stations closed at 5pm local time on Sunday, with the first results announced several hours later by Anadolu Agency. With almost 20% of ballots counted, Erdogan had 55% of the vote, with Kilicdaroglu at 39%. Sinan Ogan, widely considered an outside shot for the presidency, was in a distant third at 6%.
Some 64.1 million people were registered to vote, including more than 1.7 million Turks living abroad. Turnout was high at 85%, Anadolu Agency reported.
Prior to the election, opinion polls put Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu within single digits of each other.
The election was widely portrayed as a referendum on Erdogan, who has ruled Türkiye as president since 2014 and prime minister for 11 years beforehand. After defeating an attempted coup in 2016, Erdogan has strengthened the powers of his own office while positioning Türkiye as a major regional power.