President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took an initial lead with nearly 52.09% of the vote in the runoff Sunday, compared to his rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's 47.91%, according to unofficial nationwide results. Supreme Election Council (YSK) head Ahmet Yener announced later Sunday that Erdoğan was reelected as president in line with the initial results.
The preliminary results were based on around 99.75% of the ballot boxes opened and indicated that the turnout was over 84.4%.
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," he added.
Erdoğan emerged victorious in the first round of elections with 49.52% of the votes against Kılıçdaroğlu's 44.88%.
