Turkish people go to the polls in the second round

Mr Erdogan, 69, edged out his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the first round of voting on May 14. He led Mr Kilicaroglu by five percentage points and narrowly missed the minimum majority needed to win in the first round.

People of the 2nd round of voting, Mr. Erdogan is predicted to win image 1 — Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. Photo: Reuters

In recent days, he has been campaigning for voters to vote for him, calling himself a stable choice.

Mr Kilicdaroglu, 74, was the candidate of a coalition of six opposition parties. He was expected to win in the first round but unexpectedly lost to Mr Erdogan.

Turkey is the world's largest refugee host, with about 5 million migrants, including 3.3 million Syrians, according to Interior Ministry data.

The third-placed candidate, Sinan Ogan, said he supported Erdogan based on the principle of "relentless struggle against terrorism". He won 5.17% of the vote in the first round.

Another nationalist, Umit Ozdag, leader of the anti-immigrant Victory Party (ZP), has announced his support for Kilicdaroglu. The ZP won 2.2% of the vote in the first round.

Polls showed Mr Erdogan had 52.7% support and Mr Kilicdaroglu had 47.3%. The polls were conducted before Mr Ogan and Mr Ozdag made their statements.

Polls will open at 8am local time and close at 5pm. Preliminary results will be announced at 7pm tonight.

Quoc Thien (according to Reuters)

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