Turkish presidential election enters second round

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Neither presidential candidate in Turkey’s election was able to gain enough votes to win the highly-contested vote on Sunday, taking the race to the second round later this month. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gained 49.51 percent of the votes during the knife-edge presidential election while his main rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the mutual candidate of the opposition, gained 44.88 percent. 

The second round of voting is set to take place on May 28, marking the country’s first presidential runoff.

"According to preliminary results, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has 49.51 percent, Mr. Kemal Kilicdaroglu has 44.88 percent, Mr. Sinan Ogan has 5.21 percent [of the votes]," Ahmet Yener, head of Turkey’s electoral commission, said in a press conference after announcing that the race will go to a runoff. 

Erdogan, the head of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), became the prime minister of Turkey in 2003 and remained in the position until 2014 when he became the president of the country - a ceremonial position at the time. He changed the country’s governing system from parliamentary to presidential through a referendum. This created a one-man rule in the country as it abolished the role of the prime minister. 

Kilicdaroglu is the head of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) which is the oldest Turkish party and its first leader, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, was the founder of modern Turkey. The party has been led by Kilicdaroglu since 2010 when its then-leader Deniz Baykal resigned over a scandal. The 74-year-old politician has transformed the party from being a hardline Kemalist one to consisting mainly of pro-West politicians, including Kurds.