Turkish election feed

Duvar English

Turkey has voted in the parliamentary and presidential elections on the same year with the centennial of the foundation of the republic. 

The voting ended at 5 p.m. local time. The Supreme Election Council (YSK) has lifted the broadcast ban for the election results.

Here are important highlights on what's happening hour by hour after the voting ended.

3.41 p.m. Supreme Election Council (YSK) head Ahmet Yener announced that there will be a run-off vote between Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu on May 28 for the presidential election.

3.31 p.m.: Breaking his a few hour silence, Kılıçdaroğlu said in a tweet that "We have been working nonstop since yesterday. Do not fall into despair. I will stand tall. I will tell you my clear observations of what is happening. Then we will stand up and take this election together. At the end of everything, it will only be what our nation says."

03.00 a.m. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and other leaders of the Nation Alliance organized a press statement. Kılıçdaroğlu said, "Erdoğan did not get the result he expected despite all his slander and insults. No one should aspire for a fait accompli. Elections cannot be won on the balcony. We are still receiving data. If our nation calls for a second round, we will accept."

02.45 a.m. Supreme Election Council (YSK) chair Ahmet Yener announced Erdoğan's vote as 49.49 percent and Kılıçdaroğlu's vote as 44.79 percent according to unofficial results and added that 91,93 percent of the ballots has been counted.

02:04 a.m.: In his traditional balcony speech where he usually declared his victory in previous elections, Erdoğan said "Although the results are not yet clear, we are well ahead. We do not yet know whether the election is over in the first round. We believe that we will finish this round with over 50 percent of the vote."

01.27 a.m. The AKP supporters have been waiting at the party's headquarters in capital Ankara for the arrival of President Erdoğan. The speakers in the HQ said, "The winner won again, the loser lost again," and "The man won."

01.20 a.m. Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu stated that only 20 percent of the votes casted abroad has been counted.

00.35 a.m.: In a brief statement in front of the CHP headquarters, main opposition bloc's presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said "They repeatedly object to results of the ballot boxes where our votes are high. What you block is the will of Turkey, you cannot prevent it with objections. We will not let this thing turn into a fait accompli. Let the votes come, let the results be known. I call out to the democracy workers, do not leave the ballot boxes and election councils. I invite the Supreme Election Council (YSK) to responsibility."

11.40 p.m.: CHP Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu announced there are still 7.5 million votes to be registered. CHP Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş said they only have the 69% of the whole wet-signed ballot records.

Yavaş said the number of counted boxes is 130,260 and there are still about 60,000 ballot boxes to be registered in their system. Accordingly, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has so far received 47.7 percent of the votes, whereas Erdoğan 45.8 percent, Yavaş noted, adding there is a "high chance" of run-off.

11.26 p.m.: Opposition İYİ (Good) Party group deputy chair İbrahim Özkan announced that "Currently, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu receives 51.5% according to our wet-signed records. No worries. There is no sleep tonight."

10.45 p.m. Supreme Election Council (YSK) chair Ahmet Yener announced that the results from 47.5 percent of the ballot boxes has been entered to the YSK's database as of 10.45 p.m..

10.37 p.m.: In a live broadcast on Twitter, Ekrem İmamoğlu said 10 million votes have not been counted yet, making 20 percent of the total votes.

10.11 p.m.: Kılıçdaroğlu said "The fiction, which started with 60 percent, has now dropped below 50. Ballot observers and election board officials should never leave their places. We will not sleep tonight, my people. I warn the Supreme Election Council (YSK), you have to provide data entry in the provinces."

10.03 p.m.: President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that the election process had occurred in a "positive and democratic atmosphere."

He tweeted that any "attempt to announce the results in a hurried way when the voting counting process is continuing means the seizure of the national will," in a clear reference to CHP mayors' previous statement that Kılıçdaroğlu was leading in the voting. 

9.15 p.m. Journalist Murat Yetkin on Fox TV reported that President Erdoğan gave instructions to both the Anadolu Agency and state television TRT to ensure that the margin between him and Kılıçdaroğlu remains around 10 percent until he issues an official statement.

9.00 p.m Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, both from the CHP, stated that Kılıçdaroğlu receives 47.42 percent of the votes while  Erdoğan receives 46.80 percent. They emphasized that the results from the three major cities have not been proportionately entered into the database yet. The CHP uses data based on wet-signed minutes.

8.15 p.m. Journalist Fatih Altaylı stated on his social media account that AKP supporters objected the results of the ballot boxes where Kılıçdaroğlu was ahead, and therefore the data of the recounted ballot boxes could not be entered into the system by Anadolu Agency and ANKA news agency.

7.58 p.m. The AKP’s general headquarters is being evacuated due to a bomb search, with detection dogs entering the building. People inside the headquarters were asked to leave the premises and will be allowed back once the search has ended, the BBC Turkish reported. 

7.53 p.m. Opposition Nation Alliance's presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu tweeted, "We are ahead."

7.40 p.m Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu said, "We can say that Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu will be president today, and we believe in this."

İmamoğlu said that since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) officials are appealing the ballot box results where Kılıçdaroğlu is ahead, those results are being recounted and not registered in the system yet. 

He also said that Anadolu Agency is "manipulating" data. 

7.30 p.m. The CHP and Green Left Party (YSP) executives said that the state-owned Anadolu Agency manipulates the election results.

7.18 p.m. The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Istanbul Provincial Chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu stated that Kılıçdaroğlu receives 51.33 percent, Erdoğan 43.94 percent and Oğan 4.45 percent of the votes in Istanbul as 15 percent of the ballot boxes opened. The CHP uses data based on wet-signed minutes.

7.12 p.m. The presidential election results show Erdoğan at 54 percent and Kılıçdaroğlu at 39 percent, with 24 percent of the ballot boxes opened, according to Anadolu Agency data. 

6.30 p.m. YSK head Ahmet Yener announced that the broadcast ban for election results has been lifted.