Last Sunday, Turkish citizens began to exercise their right to vote in the second round of the presidential elections, where the current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is seeking re-election against the social democratic candidate Kemal Kiliçdaroglu. Polling stations opened at 08:00 local time and closed at 17:00, kicking off a day marked by a large turnout of voters, as witnessed by AFP journalists who observed long lines form early in the morning.
One notable feature of this election day was the more evident presence of supervisors at the polling stations. In the residential neighborhood of Sisli in Istanbul, a 93-year-old retired engineer named Özer Atayolu was one of the first to arrive to exercise his right to vote, arguing his belief in democracy and his responsibility as a citizen.
In the capital, Ankara, a 55-year-old woman named Zerrin Alan expressed her excitement and nervousness for these elections, mentioning her hope that the electoral process would pass without irregularities. In the first round, held two weeks ago, Erdoğan won 49.5% of the vote despite his long time in power, while Kiliçdaroglu came in second with 45% of the vote.
The most recent polls suggest that Erdoğan, who was backed by ultra-nationalist candidate Sinan Ogan, who came in third place with 5% of the vote, will maintain a similar percentage difference in this second round.