Turkish opposition denounces electoral "manipulation" and claims victory

"They are continuously contesting the voting records, and thus blocking the system. The system should not be manipulated with challenges," Kiliçdaroglu warned in a brief television appearance.

"We have the signed minutes. Let the votes be counted and let the result be clear. I also warn the members of the Election Commission: do not block the will of the nation. We will be here until the last vote has been counted," the CHP chief said.

He did not indicate who, in his view, is leading the count, but several senior members of his party had earlier claimed that according to the results sent in by CHP polling station proxies Kiliçdaroglu would have a lead over his competitor, when preliminary data released by the ruling Anadolu agency claim otherwise.

The chairman of the Election Commission, Ahmet Yener, had appeared earlier to clarify that the official system has 69 % of the votes counted, when the advances given by Anadolu and other media already exceed 90 %.

"There are 7.5 million votes that have not entered the system. They come from places where we are stronger. They manipulate the results and leave people in front of the TV all night," said Istanbul mayor and vice-presidential hopeful Ekrem Imamoglu.

"We believe the whole nation will see how Kiliçdaroglu will lead (the recount) in the morning," he insisted.

According to Anadolu Agency, Erdogan wins the election with 49.7 percent of the vote, five points ahead of the opposition candidate when 93 percent of the ballots have been counted.

Erdogan would thus have lost the absolute majority with which he became president in 2014 and which he renewed in 2018, and would now have to defend the post against Kiliçdaroglu in a run-off in two weeks' time.

"We don't trust the AKP (Erdogan's party) system. We don't trust Anadolu," said Imamoglu, who in 2019 was challenged by the AKP over his election victory in Istanbul, forcing a rerun that he won again by a much larger margin.

The mayor of Ankara, fellow social democrat Mansur Yavas, said that with the data available to them Kiliçdaroglu would have 47.7 per cent of the vote, two points more than Erdogan.

"The probability of a second round is high, but our president can still win in the first round," he said. EFE