Polls close in Turkey in presidential runoff

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been at Turkey’s helm for 20 years, was favoured to win a new five-year term in the second-round runoff, after coming just short of outright victory in the first round on May 14

Election representatives count ballots at a polling station in Istanbul, Turkey on Sunday, May 28, 2023 (Emrah Gurel/AP/PA)

Polls closed in Turkey in a runoff presidential race that will decide whether the country’s longtime leader stretches his rule into a third decade, or is unseated by challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

Turkey does not have exit polls, but preliminary results are expected within hours.