Erdoğan dominates presidential race in most of Türkiye's quake-hit region

With around 95.83% of the ballot boxes counted, preliminary results put Erdoğan ahead in nine of 11 provinces in the quake zone, including Adıyaman, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, Şanlıurfa and Elazığ. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ruling Justice and Development Party-led (AK Party) People's Alliance were ahead in the presidential and parliamentary polls in Türkiye's southern region devastated by Feb. 6 twin earthquakes, according to initial results Sunday. The quakes ripped through 11 provinces and killed over 50,000 people, toppling hundreds of thousands of buildings and severely damaging the southeastern region's infrastructure. With around 95.83% of the ballot boxes counted, preliminary results put Erdoğan ahead in nine of 11 provinces in the quake zone, including Adıyaman, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, Şanlıurfa and Elazığ. In comparison, opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was ahead in Adana and Diyarbakır provinces. As for the parliamentary elections, preliminary results placed the People's Alliance ahead in all provinces except for Diyarbakır, which was dominated by the Green Left Party (YSP) with about 99.78% of the ballot boxes counted.