President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa congratulated Recep Tayyip Erdogan this Sunday on his re-election as President of Turkey.
“The President of the Republic congratulated the President of Turkey Recep T. Erdogan on his re-election to a new mandate at the head of the fate of Turkey, our ally in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),” read the note on the official website of the Presidium of the Republic.
The head of the Turkish state was re-elected with 52.14% of the vote for a new five-year term against 47.86% for Kılıçdaroğlu. Even before the announcement of the official election results, Erdogan had already announced his victory.
“Our nation has given us the responsibility of running the country for the next five years,” Erdogan said outside his Istanbul residence, where an enthusiastic crowd has gathered in recent hours.
In front of his supporters, the head of state, who has been in power for 20 years, assured that he would fulfill “all the promises made to the people”, and stressed that every election is a “revival”.
For his part, opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu expressed “sadness” about the future of Turkey.
“I am deeply saddened by the difficulties the country is facing,” the losing candidate and leader of Turkey’s main opposition party said at his party’s headquarters in Ankara.
A number of political leaders from other countries have already congratulated Erdogan on the feat. The Turkish president led Turkey for 20 years, and in the second round he was favored by re-election for a new five-year term.
Erdoğan, who has adopted a strict presidential regime with growing authoritarian characteristics since 2017 after a constitutional referendum, cemented his status as the favorite in the first round with 49.5% of the votes cast (very close to the threshold of 50% that a runoff would avoid) compared with 44.9% of the leader of the opposition disputing the official results.
Polling stations closed at 17:00 local time, two hours behind in Lisbon.
The Turkish opposition this Sunday denounced violations in the second round of the presidential election, such as physical attacks on election observers in the southwestern region and vote-rigging.
Turkey has about 85 million inhabitants and more than 61 million registered voters in a process where voting is mandatory.
Author: morning Post This Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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