Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in the fight of his life against an opposition that has united against him for Sunday’s elections.
His main rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu appeared before a throng of supporters Friday, flanked by allies from across the political spectrum who have come together as never before.
As the rain beat down in Ankara, he vowed to restore “peace and democracy”.
The man he wants voters to oust after 20 years – Erdogan – said he had kept Turkey standing tall despite many challenges, including the economy with its rampant inflation and February’s catastrophic double earthquakes.
Both issues have dominated this febrile campaign for both the presidency and parliament.
Tensions are running so high ahead of the vote that he wore a bullet-proof vest on stage in Ankara for his final rally and at another event earlier on.
The race has become as tense as it is pivotal. One of the four candidates for the presidency, Muharrem Ince, pulled out Thursday, complaining that he had been targeted on social media with deep fake sex videos that had “manipulated the electorate.
When the main opposition challenger blamed Russia, Kremlin denied having anything to do with the videos or seeking to interfere in the vote.
Erdogan, who has maintained ties with Vladimir Putin, warned his rival: “If you attack Putin, I will not be ok with that.”
The President was addressing party loyalists in Istanbul, but the night before he was just outside the capital in a city of half a million people that seemed in full support of his AK Party.
Orange, blue and white party AKP flags fluttered throughout the centre of Sincan, as locals filled the streets in the hope of catching a glimpse of Erdogan.
On the campaign trail in Ankara, centre-left candidate Aysun Palali Koktas said that while the economy and the aftermath of the earthquake were the top two issues of the election, the future of Turkey’s democracy and people’s rights were just as important.
“When we tweet, we don’t want to be frightened, and that’s the case especially for young people,” she said.
But, AK Party candidate Zehranur Aydemir, 25, believes young voters are very well treated by the government. “You can see young people at every level in our party.”
Over 64 million people are expected to ñ JJvote at home and abroad on Sunday.
To win outright a candidate will have to secure more than half the vote.
If no candidate gets atlplus one vote in the first round, the presidential election will go to a second round on 28 May between the two who received the most votes.
BBC