Erdogan leading in Turkey's Presidential elections

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to win the presidential election Sunday with over 53 percent of the votes. With nearly 95 percent of the votes counted, Erdogan leads as Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, former Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, has gained more than 37 percent. Selahattin Demirtas, the head of the leftist pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, is in third place with just over 9 percent. The presidential election, sandwiched between the local polls back in March and the upcoming general elections in June 2015, is the first ever to be decided by popular vote. It is widely seen as a referendum on the leadership of Prime Minister Erdogan, standing for the ruling Justice and Development Party. If Erdogan doesn’t win more than 50 percent, a second round election will take place on August 24. More than 53 million Turks were eligible to vote Sunday, and the turnout was at 73 percent.