Turks began voting on Sunday in one of the most consequential elections in modern Turkey’s 100-year history, which will decide whether President Tayyip Erdogan extends his two decades in power.
Many of the city’s residents who were displaced by the massive earthquake in February are also returning to the city for Sunday’s vote.
Presidential and parliamentary votes are being held, deciding not only who leads Turkey, a NATO-member country of 85 million, but also how it is governed and where its economy is headed amid a deep cost of living crisis.
Opinion polls give Erdogan’s main challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who heads an alliance of six opposition parties, a slight lead, but if either fails to get more than 50 percent of the vote, there will be a runoff election on May 28.
Polls opened at 8am (0500 GMT) and will close at 5pm (1400 GMT).
