ANKARA, August 10 (RIA Novosti) — Turkey’s incumbent Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won the country’s first direct presidential election securing 52 percent of the vote, with 99 percent of votes counted, preliminary results show.
Erdogan's main rival Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu garnered 38.8 percent of the vote and candidate Selahattin Demirtas 9.1 percent.
First official results are expected to be announced by the country's electoral authorities on Monday and final results are due later in the week.
Erdogan addressing his supporters in Istanbul said that the people had "shown their will".
First direct presidential vote came to close in Turkey. Since 1923, the country's leader was appointed by the parliament. The voter turnout was close to 73%. A total of 40.7 million people cast their vote in the election.
To secure a victory in the race one of the candidates should win an absolute majority (50% + one vote). Otherwise the second round would have been held on August 24.
