(23 Jun 2018) Turkey is holding snap presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday - more than a year earlier than scheduled.
Voters in the capital, Ankara, expressed their hopes for democracy and peacful domestic and international politics.
The elections will usher in a new system of governance giving the president expanded powers that was narrowly approved in a referendum last year.
The post of prime minister will be abolished, concentrating even more power in the hands of the president. The opposition has vowed a return to a parliamentary democracy with distinct separation of powers.
Six candidates are running for the presidency, and the election is expected to either solidify President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's grip on the nation or restrain his political ambitions.
Erdogan's main rival is Muharrem Ince, a 54-year old former physics teacher and school principal, who is backed by Turkey's main opposition, the pro-secular Republican People's Party.
Quick-witted and pugnacious, his election rallies have drawn large crowds and opinion polls indicate that his popularity has surged. Ince promises to change the constitution and return Turkey to a parliamentary system with distinct separation of powers.
He has also vowed to end the state of emergency that Erdogan's government declared after a failed military coup in 2026 which allows the government to rule by decrees, often by-passing parliament.
Turkey's only female presidential candidate, Meral Aksener is a former interior minister who served between 1996 and 1997 and a popular former deputy parliament speaker.
The 61-year-old split from Turkey's nationalist party following a spat with its leader over his support to Erdogan in the referendum to increase presidential powers.
Last year she established the Good Party (IYI), made up of former nationalists and centre-right figures.
Like Ince, Aksener is a strong critic of Erdogan and has vowed a swift return to a parliamentary system with stronger checks and balances.
Aksener and Ince have said they would support each other against Erdogan in a runoff second-round presidential vote.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/ec3751910886ff342708b002952e15b4