Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan doubled down efforts on his pre-election rallies in hopes of gathering supporters, and is expected to continue doing so until Saturday night, the eve of the parliamentary and presidential polls.
For the first time ever, Erdogan’s political future faces disturbing doubts.
Erdogan, who faces five different competitors, is most threatened by the popular nominee and former science teacher Muharrem Ince of the Republican People's Party (CHP).
“We have only one day and we are ready to go from one door to another,” Ince urged his supporters after taking a shuttle between the mass rallies across Istanbul.
Most of Ince’s public speeches focused on women and youth.
“I trust my people, I love my people, and my people will give the necessary response to the opposition on Sunday,” he said.
The election is fierce and unprecedented, and is one of the most difficult entitlements in Turkey since the ruling AK Party came to power 16 years ago.
Following elections, Turkey will formally move to a much-contested presidential system following a referendum that was held on April 16, 2016 and endorsed by a slim majority of 51.4 percent.
This system gives the president unmatched executive powers never seen in the history of the Turkey, and abolishes the post of prime minister.
At least 56,322,632 voters will cast their ballots in 180,000 polling stations inside the country, while another 3,047,328 voters are expected to cast their ballots abroad.
Women make up 50.76 percent of voters at home. The largest number of voters is located in Istanbul and stands at a whopping 10,559,686, followed by the capital Ankara with 3,904,585 voters.
The northwestern city Izmir also packs a substantial concentration of voters amounting to 3,227,032 voters.
Observers review Erdogan as accustomed to confronting weak candidates easily, but Ince is a fierce opponent who does not hesitate when discussing sensitive topics like his talk about former cooperation between Erdogan’s ruling party and Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara now accuses of terrorism and masterminding a coup attempt in 2016.
