Türkiye to hold runoff vote on Sunday to elect president

By Busra Nur Cakmak

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye is heading to a runoff vote on Sunday to elect the president after no candidate was able to reach the 50% threshold in the first round held on May 14.

The voting will begin on Sunday at 8 a.m. local time (0500GMT) and end at 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT).

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.

According to Türkiye's Supreme Election Council, more than 1.89 million people – 1,895,430 – already cast their votes at Türkiye's foreign missions and customs gates as of 10 a.m. local time (0700GMT) on Thursday.

Voting at diplomatic missions ended on Wednesday, while the polling will continue at customs gates until 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Sunday.

In the May 14 elections, a total of 1,839,470 Turkish citizens abroad went to the polls to vote in both presidential and parliamentary elections.

Those who are unable to cast their ballots within the dedicated time in their country of residence will be able to vote at the customs gates until 5 p.m. Sunday.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday called on people to come out to vote.

“Tomorrow, let's go to the polls together for the Great Türkiye Victory. Let's reflect the will that was manifested in the Parliament on May 14 to the Presidency much more strongly this time,” said Erdogan on Twitter.

“Let's start the Türkiye Century with our votes,” he added.

Millions of voters went to the polls on May 14 to elect the country's president and members of its 600-seat parliament.

Erdogan's People's Alliance won a majority in parliament, while the presidential race headed to the second round as no candidate obtained a simple majority, or more than 50% of the votes. Erdogan, however, led with 49.52%.

Erdogan will face Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and joint candidate for the six-party opposition Nation Alliance, in the runoff vote.​​​​​​​