Michael Georg Link, the OSCE Special Coordinator for the Short-Term Observers Mission, indicated that OSCE observers did not detect obvious tampering during the vote counting in Turkey’s latest elections. He emphasized that while final reports are always issued after the full appeals process, there were no clear signs of manipulation in the counting phase, even as reviews continue.
Turkish presidential and parliamentary elections were conducted on May 14. The incumbent president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, faced Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the sole challenger from the opposition People’s Alliance, while Erdogan led the Republican Alliance.
With 100% of ballots tallied, Erdogan held 49.35% of the vote, Kılıçdaroğlu 45%, and Sinan Oğan, the ATA Alliance’s third candidate, captured 5.22%. A runoff was scheduled for May 28 to determine the presidency.
Some reports from the opposition’s Republican People’s Party suggested that Kılıçdaroğlu could gain some votes from Oğan in the runoff, given Oğan’s first-round share of about 5.2%.