Voting abroad for Turkish elections ends, with record turnout

Ankara, May 25 (EFE).- Voting abroad for the second round of Turkey’s presidential elections Sunday ended Wednesday night, with a record turnout in consulates worldwide.

In the first round, voting abroad lasted 12 days and there were 1.69 million participants, while more than 1.85 million people voted in the second round of five days.

Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his opposition rival, Social Democrat Keman Kilicdaroglu, face off Sunday in the decisive round after neither achieved more than half of the votes two weeks ago.

Erdogan starts as the great favorite, having obtained 49.5 percent of votes in the first round, compared to about 45 percent for Kilicdaroglu.

Sinan Ogan, presidential candidate of the nationalist ATA alliance, which obtained 5.2 percent in the first round, has declared his support for Erdogan in the second round.

However, parties that make up the nationalist alliance headed by Ogan have expressed their support for the opposition candidate. EFE

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