Voting for the presidential runoff election ends

ANKARA

Millions of Turkish citizens on May 28 headed to ballot boxes established across the country to cast their votes in the presidential election runoff.

The country has witnessed the first runoff election since the new presidential system was accepted in 2018.

The first round of voting held earlier this month showcased a contested race between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Nation Alliance’s candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, with neither candidate securing an outright majority.

Around 6 million people cast votes for the first time on May 14, while nearly 50,000 new voters went to the polls in the second round as they have just turned 18 years old, the Supreme Election Board (YSK) informed earlier.

As in the May 14 elections, citizens seeking to arrive at their registered addresses to vote formed a density at bus stations and airports days before the election.

While many bus companies have put additional trips for voters, the number of daily 1,000 services at bus terminals in Istanbul increased to 1,800 in the last two days.

The voting occurred from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with more than 64 million citizens who are eligible to cast their votes.

Polling officers were present at schools hours before voting. After the polling station attendants took their oaths, the voting process began.

Hitting the roads in the early hours, many voters stood in long queues to cast votes.

Patients in hospitals and receiving home treatment services were taken to their respective polling stations, while officials from the YSK and the municipalities carried ballot boxes to patients who were unable to make to it the polling stations.

In the southern provinces hit by the earthquake in early February, ballot boxes were installed in containers.

Many displaced quake survivors who arrived in the cities to vote for the second round formed long queues in front of the containers.

Neighbors and relatives who had not seen each other for a long time as they left the city after the quakes also fulfilled their longing while waiting in line.

In Gaziantep, 113-year-old Fatma Tıraş cast her vote for the runoff in the early hours of the day even though her broken arm was encased in plaster.

Having six children and 38 grandchildren, Tıraş stated that she had seen all the elections held in Türkiye since the foundation of the republic.

Rümeysa Gelgi, who entered the Guinness World Records as the world’s tallest woman at 2 meters and 15 centimeters height, also cast her vote.

The district election board officials carried a ballot box to Gelgi’s house.

Election day also witnessed colorful scenes in several regions of the country.

In the capital Ankara, Mehmet Emin Özbey proposed marriage to his girlfriend, Gizem Esin, with a special ballot paper and a ballot box he prepared.

Özbey proposed to Esin with a ballot paper written “Will you marry me,” a “yes” seal, and a mini election ballot box.

In the eastern province of Kars, a couple from a folk dance team went to the polling station wearing their local Caucasian costumes.