Erdogan Loses Elections in Georgia
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, June 26
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party lost presidential and parliamentary elections in the districts opened in Georgia.
In total, 590 Turkish nationals were registered in Georgia, out of which 588 voted.
The majority of the votes, 49,32 percent, was received by Erdogan’s main opponent Muharrem Ince, while Erdogan earned 36,22 percent of votes.
In the parliamentary race 37,24 percent of votes was secured by Ince’s party, while the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) of Erdogan received 28,74 percent of votes.
With 99.2 percent of ballots counted, Erdogan received more than half the votes mandatory to secure an outright victory.
Erdogan, 64, declared the victory for the People's Alliance, a bloc between his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), saying they had won a parliamentary majority in the legislative elections, which was also held on Sunday, Al Jazeera reported.
Erdogan's rival Ince, from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), received 30.6 percent of the votes.
On the parliamentary front, Erdogan's AK Party got 42.4 percent of the votes, while its far-right MHP secured 11.2 percent.
More than 56 million voters were eligible to cast their ballots in the elections.
For the first time Turkish voters cast their ballots in simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections, in line with the constitutional amendments approved in a referendum last year that will transform the country's parliamentary system to an executive presidential one.
Erdogan has been governing Turkey for more than 15 years as prime minister and president.
