Turkey's President and presidential candidate of AK Party Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R), flanked by his wife Emine Erdogan (L), casts his ballot on the day of the Presidential runoff vote in a school in Istanbul on May 28, 2023. Photo by MURAD SEZER / POOL / AFP
Doha, Qatar: Incumbent Turkish President and presidential candidate Recep Tayyip Erdogan cast his vote in Istanbul with his wife.
The pair arrived at Uskudar Saffet Celebi High School school to cast their votes for the presidential runoff.
According to Al Jazeera, crowds cheered when he made his way into the polling station in the Uskudar neighborhood.
Erdogan also greeted his supporters and called on Turks to vote in the high-stakes election. He also said that the vote-counting process may be "very fast" today.
"It is important to see such elections for the presidency for the Turkish democracy,” Erdogan said after voting.
He also added: “Participation at 90 percent is typical in the first round. Turkey affirmed its adherence to democracy with a 90 percent participation in the elections. I hope that the results of the elections will be good for Turkey. We appeal to voters to go to the polls and adhere to democracy.”
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Erdogan casts his vote from Istanbul
???? Live coverage of Turkiye's presidential election runoff 2023https://t.co/RDDU18Fu9P#Turkey #TurkishElections #Turkiye pic.twitter.com/pn8aWH7Do1
Chairman of the Supreme Election Board, Ahmet Yener, in a televised statement, earlier affirmed that results for the Turkish presidential runoff are expected to be announced earlier compared to the first round.
He also explained that the counting took longer on May 14 because the ballot included 24 parties running for parliament and four candidates running for president.
He said: “Since only presidential candidates are taking place in this election, we think the results will come in sooner.”
A broadcast ban on announcing results will also likely be lifted around 6:30pm local time (15:30 GMT).
Countless voters thronged at polling stations across the country to elect the next president. According to reports, voter turnout seems to be larger than the first round. More people also became eligible to vote as 47,523 people turned 18 between May 14, the first round of the elections to Sunday's presidential runoff.
