Participation is expected to be higher this time than in the first round. At least, judging by the number of those who voted abroad and at customs posts. Mass migration started from Istanbul on the eve of the second round. Residents of the metropolis, who came from other parts of the country, traveled to their home countries, where they were assigned to polling stations – to vote. Going anywhere has become difficult. Train tickets sold out quickly and you had to wait several hours for a free seat on an intercity bus.
On Saturday, the candidates ended their electoral campaigns. Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held his last meetings with voters in Istanbul and also visited the cemetery where famous Turkish politicians are buried, laying flowers on their graves. Erdogan will also vote today on the shores of the Bosphorus. Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, meanwhile, has announced the organization of free buses for those who want to leave Istanbul to vote. It is planned to transport several tens of thousands of people in this way.
Opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu made promises in the final hours before the end of the campaign, promises he said he would keep upon taking office. He promised farmers high purchase prices for wheat. Unable to cope with the financial burden of borrowers – repayment of loans. And for everyone else – free access to television broadcasts of sports competitions. The latter, apparently, was pure improvisation – now German Bundesliga matches are underway, which are closely watched by Turkish fans. Unlike Erdogan, Kılıçdaroğlu will vote in Ankara.
“Politics is a total sham,” the now middle-aged Yusuf flatly says, adding that he will go to the polls nonetheless: “No matter what I think, I want to choose who exactly will rule me.” Until the very last moment, each of the two contenders for the presidency tried to seduce those voters who were not completely determined or who had not gone to the polls before. In the first round, 87% of Turks turned out to vote, and most of them have already decided their preferences for a long time. There are still a few million unreached citizens who may decide to vote now – they are expected to largely determine the outcome of this intense political race.
The candidates are sure of their strong supporters, so in the last days and hours of the election campaign, they targeted those few million hesitants, urging them to come and vote, to make, of course, the right choice. Hence the blows of promises “in the squares”, which he addressed at the last moment to the voters of Kılıçdaroğlu. On Saturday, he also urged Turks “not to commit a sin” by voting for Erdogan, which sparked considerable outrage in the media and social networks. We can see that the opposition candidate is quite nervous and is trying at all costs to obtain additional votes, which could become decisive for him. In this context, Erdogan, with his traditional style of election campaigning, almost looked like calm himself, which does not mean, however, that he is completely confident of victory. Some opinion polls on the eve of the elections gave the two candidates almost the same result, but there is no point in arguing about this – the results of the vote will soon be known, and with them the name of the new president of Turkey.
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