Polling stations open in Istanbul for presidential runoff

Polling stations open in Istanbul for Turkey’s presidential runoff between incumbent frontrunner President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu on Sunday, May 28. No candidate received the required threshold of 50 percent of the vote on Sunday, May 14, leading to the second round of voting between the top two. Reports from the first round had Erdogan on 49.24 percent of the vote and challenger Kilicdaroglu on 45.07 percent, on a turnout of 88.8 percent according to the election board. In the parliamentary elections, the People’s Alliance, headed by Erdogan’s Justice and Development (AK) Party, won a majority with 323 seats out of 600. The Nation Alliance, led by Kilicdaroglu’s Republican People’s Party (CHP), received 212 seats in the next parliament.