Erdogan declared winner of Turkey's presidential vote by country's electoral board

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been declared triumphant in Turkey’s presidential vote by the country's electoral board, amid accusations of manipulation by his opponents.

Mr Erdogan had earlier claimed he had won after state run news outlets said he was victorious. An announcement from the broadcaster TRT came soon after the Anadolu Agency, who reported that he had won 52.51 per cent of the vote with 98.4 per cent of the total counted.

Independent election monitors and the opposition both maintained that less than half the votes had been counted at that point. The president’s main rival, Muharrem Ince - who state media said had won 30.72 per cent of the vote - urged observers and his supporters to stay on at counting centres, warning that vote rigging was likely to place if they left under the impression that the result had been decided.

But speaking in the early hours of Monday, the head of the Supreme Election Council Sadi Guven confirmed the result. He said that Mr Erdogan "received the absolute majority of all valid votes" and the remaining ballots would not affect the outcome.

In his speech Mr Erdogan had warned: “The Turkish public has mandated me as president according to unofficial results. I hope nobody will damage democracy by casting a shadow on this election and its results to hide their failure."

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) did not immediately concede defeat. But it moved from suggesting that Mr Erdogan might not win the 50 per cent required to avoid a run off against Mr Ince to saying it would continue their campaign for democracy "whatever the result".

Mr Ince tweeted that he would hold a press conference on Monday.

During his address, Mr Erdogan praised the electoral process and pledged that economic progress would be made with a number of major infrastructure projects before thanking “ brotherly” countries which have already congratulated him.The Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, who has been condemned by fellow European Union states for a number of his hard-right policies, was the first to congratulate Mr Erdogan, it was reported. He was followed by Pakistan's President Mamnoon Hussain.

At home, the Turkish president’s followers took to the streets lighting flares and hooting car horns. Supporters of the opposition parties were also gathering while their leaders insisted that the full count was yet to take place and Mr Erdogan may not reach the 50 per cent figure necessary to win outright, and avoid a second round run-off.

Victory gives Mr Erdogan a second five-year term and more power than any of his predecessors after a narrow referendum win last year. Mired in accusations of fraud, that referendum concentrated authority in the office of the president at the expense of parliament and the judiciary. The opposition want to review these constitutional changes which they say will create an autocracy. Under the new constitution, Mr Erdogan could serve a further term from 2023, taking him to 2028.

There had been further scepticism from the opposition about the results given by the state news outlets for the parliamentary poll running in tandem with the presidential one. The Kurdish rights Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) received 11 per cent of the vote which, it had been expected, would make opposition parties the majority in parliament. But the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) which is in alliance with Mr Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) was said to have received 11 per cent of the vote, twice as much as forecast by polls, giving the ruling coalition a majority.

The AKP was said to have 42 per cent of the parliamentary vote, while the CHP had just under 23 per cent.

In Istanbul, Mr Erdogan’s followers had no doubt about their leader’s victory. Alim Abdulhamit, waving an AKP flag outside the party headquarters, said: “This was never in doubt, he was always going to be on top, praise to Allah. It has now a fact and those who stood against us should accept it. They made a lot of noise, but the people chose President Erdogan who has done so much for us.”

But watching the celebrations grim-faced, Adem Bulent, a 20-year-student and supporter of the CHP was convinced of 'dirty-tricks’.

“How can this be over? It is nor for the AKP to decide who wins, it is for the people," he said. "What has happened has made many of us suspect even more that some fraud has gone on. Of course we are going to protest,” he wanted to stress.

Defeat in the elections will be deeply demoralising for Mr Erdogan’s opponents who had fought a highly-energised and co-ordinated campaign and had repeatedly stated that they would be able to stop his march to what critics claim is an imperial presidency.

Indeed, victory for Mr Erdogan in the presidential vote and the AKP in parliament was not the expectation among many who had turned up to vote during the day.

“We are voting for our children’s future; that is the reason we voted the way we did, we thought hard about it and I think we made the right decision”, said Nejat Bayan as he and his wife Pinar deposited their ballot papers. “There are a lot of things wrong right now, and strong action is needed, so these elections are crucial and we need the right result.”

After supporting Mr Erdogan and the AKP all their adult lives, Mr Bayan and his wife were joining their daughter Buse in voting for the opposition CHP and its candidate Mr Ince in the parliamentary and presidential elections. And they were doing so in one of the staunch AKP loyalist centres in Istanbul, at a polling station, Piyale Pasha Elementary School, where a young Recep was once a pupil.

Three out of ten people at that polling place and one nearby stated that they had switched their votes to from the AKP to other parties. One of them was 62-year-old Hasamettin Adnan, a retired shopkeeper who had been among those hard-hit by the rapidly worsening economy. “It is awful, really awful” he said “my pension is 1,000 Liras a month, and my rent is 1,000 Liras a month now. So it is a big struggle, what am I suppose to do, steal? Start begging?” He had moved from AKP to HDP . “One man has been in power for too long, he has also chaged the system [the constitution] it is time to change the government” he held.

Doubts had grown every day since Mr Erdogan called a snap election 17 months early about the president's ability town. Especially against an opposition which had been galvanised and had shown surprising unity, co-ordinating tactics and directing their members to vote strategically.

Casting his own vote in Istanbul Mr Erdogan maintained that the country was experiencing a “democratic revolution”. While a group of supporters in the street chanted his name, he continued: “With the presidential system, Turkey has set the bar high concerning efforts to reach beyond the level of contemporary civilisation.”

Estimates for voter turn-out were standing at as high as 87 cent of the electorate in many areas. More than 56 million eligible voters can make their choices in around 180,000 ballot boxes around the country. And it is what happens to these ballot boxes which had raised concerns about rigging of the results.

Reports were coming in however within a few hours of the polls opening of alleged fraud by Mr Erdogan’s supporters. A video was posted showing a ballot box being opened in Suruc district near the Syrian border, and disturbances temporarily stopping voting in the area where police also found four bags of stamped ballot paper in a car.

Meral Aksener, the presidential candidate for the nationalist Good Party (iYi) - who are in parliamentary alliance with the CHP - said: “We are urging the incident on Suruc very closely. I urge state officials to save the honour of the state”. Mr Ince declared “We need 36 hours of mobilisation to ensure that there is no electoral fraud.”

Foreign observers are in Turkey to monitor the election. Both President Erdogan and the Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim, had criticised teams from the West, including from the Organisation for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) with Mr Yildirim claiming they are “behave like spokespeople of radical political structures, we think this means interference in election one way or another.”

The president and his supporters have avoided criticism, so far, of the monitoring team from the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation Secretariat, which has Russia, China and India as members. Officials were inspecting polling stations in Istanbul and Ankara. Krishna Kengappa, one of the officials in Istanbul said a report would be produced showing their conclusions on Monday.

Some voters, while acknowledging the risk of fraud, were focusing on the strategic voting. Ozlem Dinles, an artist, is backing HDP in the parliamentary poll, but will support Mr Ince of the CHP if there is a second round. “The aim is to get change, move Erdogan so we must find a way to that through voting. I have become more and more optimistic that this is possible” she said.

The optimism was also prevalent at a polling station in Nisahantasi, a middle class enclave and a firm CHP base. A businessman in the tourism field said: “When Erdogan called the election I thought it will all be over very quickly, with the first round. But the opposition has learned to work together and we believe a second round will take place and Erdogan will go.” His partner, a food writer, added: “Yes, this really is happening we can see the opposition gaining support and Erdogan’s support slipping”. Neither wanted to go give their names however, there is fear of retribution if such optimism failed to turn into reality.

For Bahri, a taxi driver, the removal of Mr Erdogan was wistful thinking by his enemies. “He is going to win, I know that is going to happen. Seven out of ten people who use my taxi say they will vote for him and I will as well” he declared. “Europe had been stifling us, and now we are stifling them, and for that we need Erdogan”. It was nothing personal against Europe, Bahri wanted to add, “After all, I myself have just got an Oxford diploma in taxi driving.”