Turkey election: Tayyip Erdogan wins

ANI  |  Istanbul [Turkey] 

Tightening his grip on the nation that he has ruled for 15 years, Turkish Erdogan has won the elections.

"97.7% of the votes were counted and the votes that have not been tallied so far do not change the outcome," quoted Sadi Guven, as saying.

The 64-year-old had declared himself the winner even before the official results were announced.

The opposition earlier claimed that and the election commission had manipulated the results.

Last year, he won a referendum to transform the country's parliamentary system to a powerful presidency.

The critics called it as a blatant power grab.

Erdogan also said that his ruling Justice and Development Party, the and its allied Nationalist Movement Party, the MHP, had together retained their control of parliament.

The results were a blow to Erdogan's closest rival, and CHP.

"Our nation has given me the mandate for the presidency," Erdogan said in a victory speech in Istanbul, noting his declaration was based on unofficial results. I would like to congratulate our nation once again. This has been another test of democracy and we have passed this test successfully," quoted the Turkish as saying.

Opposition parties now have five days to lodge any complaints or challenges, after the vote.

Official results will be announced in a few days.

Over 56 million voters were eligible to cast their ballots in the elections.

Voter turnout was 87 per cent.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Mon, June 25 2018. 06:45 IST