Voting starts in Türkiye’s presidential runoff, on Sunday, in which incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his leading contender, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, race for the presidency.
The polls opened at 8.00 a.m. (0500 GMT) and will close at 5.00 p.m. (1400 GMT) local time.
Unofficial results are expected at roughly 9.00 p.m. local time (1800 GMT).
The presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14 saw a high voter turnout at 86.98 per cent as almost 54 million citizens went to the polls.
Nearly 50,000 new voters who recently turned 18 are eligible to vote in the runoff.
In first round of presidential election, incumbent President Erdogan earned 49.52 per cent of the vote.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, on the other hand, received 44.88 per cent.
Meanwhile, a third candidate, nationalist politician Sinan Ogan, gained 5.17 per cent.
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Whoever eventually wins the presidency will be determined by whose alliance will control parliament.
The polls were held against a background of cost-of-living crisis that saw inflation peak at 85 per cent in October.
The country also witnessed earthquakes in February that killed more than 50,000 in the country.
These factors buoyed opposition hopes of unseating a leader known as reis, or “chief”, by supporters of the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
The 2023 elections also took on extra significance merely due to the date, that marks Centenary of Republic of Turkey.
The country’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk also established the Republican People’s Party (CHP), which governed under one-party system for 27 years.
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