Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the Turkish people to achieve what he called "Turkey's great victory" by re-electing him in the run-off scheduled for Sunday, while his rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu asked for his election as president, criticizing the government for its economic performance.
Turkish voters will cast their ballots on Sunday in a second round of the presidential election between the People's Alliance candidate, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his rival, the People's Alliance's candidate and opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
Turkish President Erdogan on Saturday visited the tomb of former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, who was executed by the military, on the eve of the second round of presidential elections in Turkey.
Erdogan delivered a speech on the 63rd anniversary of the military coup against Menderes during a visit to his tomb, where he described the coup as depriving the Turkish people of democracy and leaving deep wounds in the country's conscience at the time.
In a tweet that coincided with his speech, Erdogan called on the Turkish people to achieve what he called "Turkey's great victory" by re-electing him in the run-off scheduled for Sunday. Erdogan said the votes that would give him victory "will inaugurate Turkey's new century."
People's Alliance candidate Kılıçdaroğlu criticized the Turkish government for what he described as "poor economic performance that hurt Turkish families and prevented them from providing healthy food to their children."
What implications does #أردوغان's visit to the mausoleum of former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes mean the day before the second round of Turkey's presidential election#الأخبار #تركيا_تنتخب pic.twitter.com/vsLU5Sa0JR
— Al Jazeera (@AJArabic) May 27, 2023
In his speech, Kılıçdaroğlu promised to help women and families by establishing nurseries in Turkish neighborhoods, stressing that the establishment of nurseries is one of the social characteristics of the state. Kılıçdaroğlu also promised to give needy families a monthly stipend and not to cut off water, electricity or gas services to any needy family in Turkey.
Meanwhile, the voting process continues at border crossings and airports inside Turkey, and will end with the closure of the country's polls at five o'clock on Sunday evening.
Decisive Round
Turks elect a president who will serve for a five-year term. In the first round of elections on May 5, Erdogan received 14.49 percent of the vote, slightly below the majority needed to decide the first round.
Kılıçdaroğlu, the candidate of the six-party opposition alliance, won the support of 6.44 percent of voters. The nationalist candidate Sinan Ogan came third with 9.5% of the vote to be disqualified.
More than 64 million Turks are eligible to vote at about 192,3 polling stations. There are 4.20 million voters abroad who voted between May 24 and <>.
Polling stations open at 5 a.m. (00:14 UTC) and close at 00 p.m. (<>:<> UTC) on Sunday.
Turnout in the elections was generally high. On May 14, the overall turnout reached 87.04%, reaching 88.9% inside Turkey and 49.4% abroad.
Under election rules, news, speculation and commentary about voting are prohibited until 15pm tomorrow (00:18 UTC), and the media are free to publish election results from 00 p.m. (<>:<> UTC).
However, the Supreme Election Board may allow the media to report results earlier than this, and usually does.
Results are likely to be released on Sunday earlier than after voting in the first round, given the simplicity of ballots in which voters will choose between just two candidates, Erdogan and Kılıçdaroğlu.