Only winner today is Türkiye: Erdoğan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan thanked supporters on Sunday, May, 28 as the vote count has neared end, with unofficial results showing him leading in runoff.

Preliminary results were based on around 99.37% of the ballot boxes opened. The turnout was over 84.4%, according to initial unofficial results.

In an address to his supporters outside his residence in Istanbul, Erdoğan thanked the voters as the unofficial results showed he was leading against Kılıçdaroğlu.

"All 85 million of our citizens are the winners of both the May 14 and May 28 elections," Erdoğan said in an address to the nation from Istanbul.

"We said 'We will win in a way that no one will lose.' So the only winner today is Türkiye," he stressed.

"We have completed the second-round presidential election with the favor of our nation," Erdoğan said, expressing his gratitude to the people of Türkiye.

"I would like to thank each and every member of our nation who once again conveyed to us the responsibility for governing the country for the next five years," "God willing, we will be deserving of your trust," he added.

Erdoğan emerged victorious in the first round of elections with 49.52% of the votes against Kılıçdaroğlu's 44.88%.