Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan led the first round of elections with 49.52 percent and will now face Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), in the run-off vote.
Voters in Türkiye have returned to the polls to elect a president after no candidate was able to reach the 50 percent threshold in the first round of elections held on May 14.
In the first round of voting, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s People’s Alliance won a majority in parliament and he led the presidential election with 49.52 percent.
Erdogan will face Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and joint candidate for the six-party opposition Nation Alliance, in the run-off vote.
More than 60 million people are registered to vote, including 4.9 million first-time voters.
A total of 191,885 ballot boxes have been set up for voters in the country.
0730 GMT – Shift in Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s campaign
Opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s campaign posters with a message, “Syrians will go back,” flooded the streets of Istanbul, indicating a threat to repatriate millions of Syrian refugees, a goal that would encounter formidable resistance due to international law.
Ravza Kavakcı Kan, a political analyst told TRT World that during the past two weeks, there was a major switch in the way Kilicdaroglu carried himself.
“Initially, he was very kind and positive. But right after the first round, we heard much hardcore messages especially xenophobic messages regarding the immigrants and refugees. So there was a major switch in the way Kilicdaroglu began to represent himself after the first round.
0510 GMT – Turks begin casting their vote
Voting is now underway and will end at 5 PM local time (1400GMT).
0500 GMT – Polls open
Polls have opened across Türkiye for round two of the country’s presidential elections.
According to Türkiye’s Supreme Election Council (YSK), more than 1.92 million people cast their votes at Türkiye’s foreign missions and customs gates as of 4 PM local time (1300GMT) on Saturday.
In the May 14 elections, some 1.84 million Turkish citizens abroad went to the polls to vote in both presidential and parliamentary elections.
Visits: 3
