On Sunday May 28, polling stations opened in Turkey as part of the second round of presidential elections in the country, an Russian media correspondent reports from the scene. Current head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu are battling for the post of Turkish leader.
Polling stations opened at 08:00 local time (coinciding with Moscow time). They will work until 5:00 p.m., after which the counting of votes will begin. The first results of the vote are expected to be announced on the evening of May 28.
In total, nearly 191,000 ballot boxes have been installed in Turkey and abroad. More than 60 million Turkish citizens have the right to vote. The overseas second-round vote took place on May 24, about 3.5 million people outside Turkey took part.
Unlike the first round, which also included legislative elections, voters will only be offered one ballot with the option of choosing one of two candidates.
The security of the second round of elections will be monitored by 596,700 employees of various Turkish law enforcement agencies, informed CNN Turk television channel with reference to the country’s Interior Ministry. Almost the same number of people were mobilized for the first round, which took place on May 14, the material notes. In addition, 73 helicopters, eight planes, 61 drones, 754 water cannons and 244 naval assets, mainly boats, were put on alert for the voting period.
In the second round of the struggle for the presidency of Turkey, two candidates met: the current head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu. According to the results of the first round, none of the contenders for the chair of the Turkish leader was able to collect the 50% of the votes necessary for victory. Erdogan then got 49.51% of the vote, Kılıçdaroglu – 44.88%.
Sinan Ogan, a former participant in the Ata alliance presidential race, who won 5.17% of the vote in the first round, urged supporters to support the outgoing head of state in the second round.
What the results of the first round of presidential elections in Turkey mean, Turkish opposition political scientist Kerim Has told Russian media. What is the alignment of forces before the second round and what will determine its outcome, read here.
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