Voters in Turkey return to the polls Sunday to decide whether the country’s longtime leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stretches his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade, or is unseated by challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who has promised to restore a more democratic society. Follow FRANCE 24’s live blog for all the latest developments.
Issued on: Modified:
- Erdogan, who has been at Turkey’s helm for 20 years, is favored to win a new five-year term in the second-round runoff – the first presidential runoff election in Turkey’s history – after finishing just four percentage points ahead of Kilicdaroglu in the first round on May 14.
- Kilicdaroglu is the candidate of a six-party alliance and leader of Turkey’s center-left main opposition party. The 74-year-old former bureaucrat has described the runoff as a referendum on the country’s future.
- Strong voter participation was expected on Sunday after the May 14 election saw turnout of 87%. More than 64 million people are eligible to cast ballots.
- Polls closed at 5pm local time. Turkey does not have exit polls, but preliminary results are expected within hours.
If the live blog does not appear, please refresh the page.Â
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
For all the latest Health News Click HereÂ
 For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.Â
Denial of responsibility! NewsBit.us is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
