Alwaght- Turkish people have gone to the polls since 8 a.m. on Sunday to elect the country's president and parliament.
More than 56 million people were registered to vote at 180,000 ballot boxes across Turkey. Voting will end at 5 p.m.
Erdogan, the most popular but also divisive leader in modern Turkish history, moved the elections forward from November 2019, arguing the new powers would better enable him to tackle the nation’s mounting economic problems.
Erdogan is looking for a first round knockout and an overall majority for his ruling Justice and Development Party.
But both these goals are in doubt in the face of an energetic campaign by his rival from the secular Republican People's Party (CHP), Muharrem Ince.
Addressing a rally in Istanbul on Saturday attended by hundreds of thousands of people, Ince promised to reverse what he and opposition parties see as a swing towards authoritarian rule under Erdogan in the country of 81 million people.
“If Erdogan wins, your phones will continue to be listened to ... Fear will continue to reign ... If Ince wins, the courts will be independent,” said Ince, adding he would lift Turkey’s state of emergency within 48 hours of being elected.
A year ago, Erdogan proposed amendment of the national constitution to scrap the post of the prime minister and transfer its powers to the president post. The government held the referendum on April 16, 2017, and the proposal narrowly won the public agreement by a two-percent margin despite the government’s massive encouragement of the citizens to vote for it.
On April 18, Erdogan announced that the country will hold early presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24, i.e. one and half a year before the scheduled time.
According to the electoral timetable, local elections were to be held in March 2019, and to be followed by the Grand National Assembly and the presidential elections in October of the same year. But Erdogan’s declaration of snap vote signaled that the AKP was beginning a big political game meant to solidify its grip on the power
