Türkiye: Sinan Ogan Supports Erdogan For Runoff Election

The third place finisher in the Turkish presidential election, Sinan Ogan, said Monday that he supports incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for next Sunday's runoff election.

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"We will support the People's Alliance candidate, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in the runoff election on May 28," Ogan told reporters.

On this occasion, the third-place finisher in the presidential election held in Türkiye last May 14, highlighted Erdogan's parliamentary majority. "It is important that the newly elected president is under the same [leadership] as the parliament," Ogan said. 

The nationalist candidate won 5.2 percent in the first round of the election, while the incumbent president received 49.5 percent of the vote and opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the Republican People's Party 44.9 percent. 

We will announce our stance on the second round of the presidential elections with a press conference we will organize tomorrow at 17.00. We have come to the end of our consultations. When tomorrow's meetings and consultations are completed, we will clarify our decision and share it with the beloved sons of the Turkish nation. We want it to be known that our decision is not based on any motive, but that the future of the Turkish nation, the unity and integrity of our country and its stability will be important, and that we look at the issues on the basis of principles, not with different expectations.

Since no candidate reached the 50 percent threshold for an outright majority, Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu will face a runoff in which Ogan's supporters will be decisive.

The Zafer party obtained 2.2 percent, but has not revealed which candidate it will support. 

Kiliçdaroglu will be supported by the Adalet party, which won 0.2 percent of the total vote.