Voting ends in Türkiye's presidential, parliamentary elections

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) — Polling stations across Türkiye closed on Sunday as voting in the country's presidential and parliamentary elections ended at 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT).

More than 64.1 million people were registered to vote, including over 1.76 million who cast their ballots abroad and 4.9 million first-time voters.

A total of 191,885 ballot boxes were set up for voters in the country.

Every voter cast two ballots, one for the president and the other for parliamentarians, both of whom will serve five-year terms.

Ballot counting has begun to determine the outcome of a three-way race between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, main opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, and Sinan Ogan.

Muharrem Ince, another presidential contender, withdrew on Thursday.

More than 30 political parties and over 150 independent parliamentary candidates competed in the elections.

There were five multiparty blocs in the running: the People's Alliance, Nation Alliance, Ancestral Alliance, Labor and Freedom Alliance, and Union of Socialist Forces Alliance.