Turkey’s opposition sounds positive tone in landmark vote

Turkey’s opposition sounds positive tone in landmark vote

Opposition sources give Kemal Kilicdaroglu a more than one percentage point lead.

An election representative shows a ballot depicting a vote for opposition presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu. (AP pic)
ANKARA:
Turkey’s opposition presidential candidate said on Sunday “we are leading” in initial election results in which President Tayyip Erdogan’s 20-year rule was on the line, while opposition sources gave him a more than one percentage point lead.

“We are leading,” Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the six-party opposition alliance said on Twitter.

Separately, four sources from the six-party opposition alliance told Reuters that Kilicdaroglu was leading Erdogan by a narrow margin according to initial results. According to one tally given, Kilicdaroglu led by more than one percentage point.

The opposition mayors of Istanbul and Ankara also said Kilicdaroglu was on track for victory based on nearly a quarter of ballot boxes counted. They cautioned against relying on state-run Anadolu Agency results that gave Erdogan the initial edge.

“We can say this comfortably: Mr Kilicdaroglu will be announced as the 13th president of our country today,” said Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a key opposition figure who would become a vice-president were his side to win.

Earlier, Faik Oztrak, spokesman for Kilicdaroglu’s Republican People’s Party (CHP), said they were seeing a positive picture even as Anadolu showed Erdogan leading by 52% to 41% based on initial results.

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