Türkiye going to a run-off: 'a sign of the vibrancy of Turkish democracy'

Türkiye will go for a run-off election on May 28, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received 49.5 percent of the votes – just short of the 50.1 percent threshold to declare victory – and his main opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu secured only 44.89 percent of the vote share on Sunday’s vote.

For political analysts, the country’s holding of run-off polls is a testament to its commitment to upholding democracy.

"The big majority of Turks’ participation in the elections proved the deep rooted tradition of democracy in Türkiye," Dr Ozden Zeynep Oktav, Professor at Department of International Relations at Istanbul Medeniyet University tells TRT World.

In total more than 30 political parties and 150 independent parliamentary candidates competed on Sunday.

Omer Celik, the AK Party spokesperson described what holding elections means for Türkiye, noting "the greatest wealth of this country is that the citizens decide who will govern and lead this country."

High voter turnout

In total 64.1 million people were registered to vote with around 5 million first time voters and around 1.7 million from the country's diaspora were registered to vote from overseas.

In the country itself, close to 192,000 ballot boxes were in operation as voting closed around 5 pm.

According to US Ambassador (ret.) Matthew Bryza, Türkiye's high voter turnout (89%) in yesterday's elections "is a really great development for democracy in Türkiye and numbers like that of voters is the envy of the United States where a good election turnout - a high election turnout is considered to be maybe 65%."

Noting the high voter turnout, Bryza, also a former White House and Senior State Department official, suggests it "shows how important democracy is to the citizens in Türkiye."

Opinion polls and anti-Erdogan news proven dead wrong

Some opinion polls had forecast a Kilicdaroglu win while Bryza underscores how "notoriously inaccurate" they can be, drawing comparison to the US' Presidential election in 2020 that was "terribly inaccurate" and the 2016 election.

"So I'm not at all surprised that the [opinion] polls turned out to be inaccurate in this Turkish election which had put Kemal Kilicdaroglu ahead of President Erdogan. I don't think there's anything sinister in that - I think it's just a common occurrence that public opinion polling in many countries including the United States in recent years has been inaccurate," says Bryza.

However, Oktav argues "the results proved that the outside opinion polls and the anti-Erdogan news covered by foreign media did not reflect the truth. Moreover, such polls and news strengthened the idea that Kiiıcdaroglu is an agent of the United States. This led to a decrease in Kilicdaroglu’s prestige in the eyes of many in Türkiye."

Welcoming the second-round of the election

In what will likely be the first run off vote under Türkiye's new electoral system which could be held on May 28, both front-runners in the presidential race, President Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu have expressed their optimism, believing they can both still win.

Bryza describes it as "a sign of the vibrancy of Turkish democracy, that both candidates, both Kilicdaroglu and Erdogan believe they can win in the second round of the presidential election. And I also think it is good, very good compared to the United States that the sitting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said continuously he will honor the outcome of the election and again now we see that he is welcoming the second round."

Bryza suggests that "this stands in sharp contrast to the United States where even now, even after provoking the January 6th riot on Capitol Hill that put into question the survival of American democratic institutions and it was so disgraceful."

Across the Atlantic, Bryza underscores how President Donald Trump "as of last week refuses to say he will accept the results whatever they are of the 2024 presidential election when asked by CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins at the CNN town hall last week, he specified he will accept the results, if the election is fair."

Noting how President Donald Trump has erroneously claimed the 2020 election was stolen and "is suggesting that the 2024 election might be unfair and if he loses, it will be because the election was stolen. The example set by President Erdogan stands in sharp contrast to the disgraceful example of Donald Trump," says Bryza.

2023: Elections and 100th anniversary of Turkish Republic

With Türkiye's presidential elections taking place in 2023, Oktav underscores the importance of the year in relation to the founding of the country.

"The 2023 elections mean a lot to Turks as the (year) 2023 is the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic. Besides, many believed that the AK Party would lose the elections as it has been ruling over 20 years and has been under big criticism due to big inflation and economic problems," she says. "Interestingly just the reverse happened and the AK party got the majority in the parliament."

READ MORE: Türkiye polls live updates: Presidential race heads to run-off on May 28