Ankara: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged to avoid “hastily” announcing the presidential election’s results as the counting of votes is still underway.
While the presidential election was held in such a “positive and democratic” atmosphere and the vote counting is still going on, trying to announce results “hastily means usurping the national will,” Erdogan, the incumbent candidate, said in a tweet on Sunday.
“We are pleased that the favour of our nation is reflected in the ongoing vote count,” the incumbent President said.
“I ask all of my colleagues to stay at the ballot boxes, no matter what until the results are officially finalised,” he added as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.
Turkish semi-official Anadolu Agency estimated that Erdogan was leading the presidential race with 50.13 per cent of the vote, while his main rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu won 44.09 per cent, after 85 per cent of the boxes were counted.
However, the gap between Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu is narrowing as more votes are being counted, thus may lead to a runoff vote on May 28 if no presidential candidate wins more than 50 per cent of the vote.
–IANS