Turkey’s Election Commission Confirms First Round Election Results; Erdogan met with the candidate of the third party

Istanbul — Turkey’s Supreme Election Commission on Friday confirmed the results of the first round of Turkey’s presidential election, in which neither incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan nor his main challenger, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, received the majority support needed to win outright.

The election commission announced that Erdogan won 49.24% of the vote, Kilicdaroglu 45.07% and the third candidate, nationalist politician Sinan Ogan, 5.28%, therefore the May 28 election a second round is required between the two best candidates.

Ogan, a former academic backed by an anti-immigrant party, may hold the key to victory in the runoff now that he has dropped out of the race.

Speaking to Turkish media earlier this week, Ogan listed the conditions to win his support. They include taking a hard line against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and creating a roadmap to return millions of refugees, including nearly 3.7 million Syrians.

The PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency in southeastern Turkey, is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union.

On Thursday, Kilicdaroglu shifted from his more inclusive, soft-spoken rhetoric to appeal to nationalist voters, vowing to send back millions of refugees and rejecting the possibility of peace talks with Kurdish militants.

Meanwhile, speaking to CNN International in an interview broadcast on Friday, Erdogan stated that he would not bow to Ogan’s demands: “I am not a person who likes to negotiate in this way. The people will be the kingmakers.”

On Friday, however, a surprising meeting took place between Erdogan and Ogan in the former’s office in Istanbul. After the nearly one-hour meeting, no statements were made.