More than 60 million Turkish voters went to the polls today to elect the country’s new president and a total of 600 members of Turkey’s new National Assembly.

69-year-old Recep Tayyip Erdogan (head of the ruling Justice and Development Party / AKP, mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998, prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and president of the country since 2014), 74 years old – old Kemal Kilicdaroglu (leader of the opposition Republican People’s Party/CHP and Member of Parliament) and 55-year-old independent Sinan Ogan (who came from the nationalist MHP but has since left) are the three remaining contenders for the presidency after Muharrem Ince withdrew his candidacy a few days ago.

If none of them manage to get more than 50% of the vote today, then the two with the highest percentage of votes will go to the second round of the presidential elections, expected on May 28.

Erdogan and Kılıçdaroğlu are vying for first place, with the Turkish opposition candidate leading by several points in polls.

When are the first results expected?

Polling stations close at 17:00. However, it is expected that the broadcast of the official results will begin at 21:00.

Dual (presidential and parliamentary) elections 14^her May comes three months after the devastating earthquake 6^her February, which caused widespread destruction in Turkey, mainly in the southeast, displacing millions of citizens and killing more than 50,000 people.

The result of the election is expected to determine the course followed by the country, which today seems to be at a crossroads.

On the one hand, the Erdogan system, which has been leading Turkey for the past 20 years, and on the other, the united Turkish opposition, which demands the voice of the Turks, promising to change all the “bad texts” of the Erdogan era.

Six Turkish opposition parties (CHP, İYİ, Saadet, DP, DEVA, Gelecek), the so-called National Alliance, have teamed up with presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu to end Erdogan’s period of absolute rule.

On the other hand, four factions (AKP, MHP, BBP, YRP) of the AKP, including the so-called “People’s Alliance”, supported by other smaller forces (HÜDA PAR, etc.), took the side of the current president.

HDP Kurds/pro-Kurds have said they will support Kilicdaroglu’s presidential candidacy against Erdogan. However, they participate in the parliamentary elections with another, their own coalition of forces (the Alliance of Labor and Freedom).

It is noted that Kurdish voters make up approximately 15% to 20% of all Turkish voters, but there are also many Erdogan voters among them.