ISTANBUL, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Turkish voters seem to have no time to linger on mixed feelings as electoral bases of the two front-running presidential candidates are gearing up to cast a decisive vote in the upcoming runoff election.
Turkish Supreme Election Board announced on Monday that a presidential runoff would be held on May 28, as no candidate secured a simple majority in the first round needed to declare a winner.
Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who garnered 49.51 percent of vote, has been locked in the tight race with Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the six-party opposition bloc who gained 44.88 percent.
Deniz Cay, a 26-year-old football coach who backs Kilicdaroglu, said although the opposition were now getting more cautious about their odds in the runoff after their candidate's rate was lower than expected in the first round, "we would still go and cast our votes (in the second round) regardless. We will do what is necessary."
Levent Turgal, who works in the finance sector and favors Erdogan, said the lack of a clear-cut winner from the first round was not what he had expected, but the high voters turnout in such a landmark election reflected that everyone was serious about the political future of the country.
Representing People's Alliance, Erdogan needs to prove to voters his leadership and policies are valid for navigating the country out of the economic woes, when high cost of living, galloping inflation and post-quake recovery are most concerned topics among the public.
Sinan Ogan, the third candidate, had 5.17 percent of vote in the initial vote. Observers said whoever gains more votes from those supporting Ogan in the second ballot will have an edge.
Baris Doster, a professor of communication and journalism with Istanbul-based Marmara University, predicted a lower turnout in the second round as people tend to go all out in the first round, burning out their enthusiasm.
"This wouldn't be surprising," Doster told Xinhua, adding some voters who get satisfactory results from the parliamentary race tend to be less attentive to the presidential runoff.
Some 61 million voters are registered to cast their ballots in the Turkish elections. The voter turnout was 88.92 percent in Sunday's presidential and parliamentary elections, Ahmet Yener, head of the Supreme Election Board, has said.
Unofficial results of the parliamentary election from Anadolu Agency showed that the People's Alliance led by Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party gained 322 seats, the highest among three alliances that run for the 600-seat parliament. ■