Turkey awaits the second round of presidential elections for the first time in its history

For the first time in its history, Turkey is awaiting a second round of presidential elections following a fiercely contested first round, with voters separating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on May 28 from his main rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

The result of the count gave 49.5 percent of the votes to Erdogan, who has been in power for twenty years, compared to 45 percent to his Social Democratic opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu, and in light of this, the electoral commission confirmed Monday afternoon a second round of presidential elections.

The legislative elections resulted in Erdogan retaining a majority in parliament.

The result of the second round will depend in part on a third candidate, Sinan Ogan (nationalist), who won about 5.2 percent of the first-round vote, but it has not yet been announced whether he will support one of the candidates.

The economic crisis and the devastating February 50 earthquake that killed at least 650,<> people did not have the effects that analysts expected. The government's response, which was seen as belated, angered many survivors. But that anger did not translate into the ballot box, as hard-hit provinces renewed their confidence in the president, who promised to rebuild <>,<> homes in the affected areas as soon as possible.

The Turkish newspaper "Sabah" considered that the outgoing president's topping of the results of the first round "is a great success."

In recent weeks, the opposition camp, represented by a broad coalition led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's Republican People's Party (CHP), has called for "the outcome of the elections to be decided from the first round."

Despite attempts by the opposition to question the results on Sunday night, observers from the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said the election offered Turks a real political choice.

Both candidates expressed their willingness to compete again in two weeks' time, and both vowed to "respect" the verdict of the ballot box.

Erdogan was elected in 2018 in the first round of presidential elections and showed confidence in winning this time. "I believe from the bottom of my heart that we will continue to serve our people in the next five years," he said.