Turkish president says his alliance gearing up for runoff vote

ANKARA (AA): As Türkiye heads to an election runoff on May 28, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said his People’s Alliance has started preparing for the much anticipated vote.

“The will manifested in the ballot box is sacred. As the alliance, we immediately started preparing for May 28. I had my meetings with all the (party) leaders today,” Erdogan said during his first joint live broadcast, with broadcasters CNN Turk and Kanal D, after last Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

Millions of voters went to the polls on Sunday to elect the country’s president and members of its 600-seat parliament.

Erdogan’s People’s Alliance won a majority in parliament, while the presidential race is headed to a second round on May 28.

In the first round held on May 14, no candidate won an outright majority, although Erdogan was leading.

Erdogan will face Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and joint candidate for the six-party opposition Nation Alliance, in the runoff vote.

“I would like to thank my citizens for the record participation. We had a great democracy festival befitting Türkiye. It could be unique in the world. The turnout was around 90%,” Erdogan said, adding that he expects high turnout in the second round as well.

It is necessary to make good use of the next 12 days, he added.

“I will visit some part of the quake-hit area this weekend. I am not thinking of holding rallies, but we can hold meetings in the earthquake zone,” he said.