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WEB DESK
Voting began in Turkey today in dual parliamentary and presidential polls. First results are expected late in the evening. The elections were originally scheduled for November 2019 but were brought forward by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey remains under a state of emergency imposed in the aftermath of a failed coup in July 2016.
For the first time, over 56 million eligible voters can cast ballots simultaneously in the parliamentary and presidential elections.
Mr. Erdogan faces strong challenge from his rival Muharrem Ince, who has mobilised hundreds of thousands in mega rallies, and a strong opposition alliance in the legislative polls.
Parties in the running
Eight political parties are participating in the parliamentary elections that include the Justice and Development (AK) Party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the Free Cause (Huda-Par) Party, the newly formed Good (IYI) Party, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the Felicity (Saadet) Party and the Patriotic (Vatan) Party.
For the first time in Turkish history, political parties went to elections by forming alliances.
Turkey’s ruling AK Party and the MHP formed an alliance (People’s Alliance) while the CHP, the IYI Party, and the Felicity Party constituted another (Nation Alliance).
A bill, submitted by the ruling AK Party and the MHP in February, stated that a political party could back another during elections.
In general elections, a political party must receive 10 percent of the votes nationwide for any of its candidates to win a seat in parliament. Now, only the alliance needs to pass the 10-percent threshold in order for the parties to claim seats in parliament.
Ballots are bearing the name of the alliance juxtaposed to that of the candidates whose parties have decided to proceed with forging an alliance.
Presidential candidates
Six candidates are running for president: Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the alliance (People’s Alliance) formed by Turkey’s ruling AK Party and the MHP, Muharrem Ince for CHP, Selahattin Demirtas for HDP, Meral Aksener for the Good (IYI) Party, Temel Karamollaoglu for the Felicity (Saadet) Party, and Dogu Perincek for the Patriotic (Vatan) Party.
Election day bans
News media organizations are not allowed to broadcast any political advertising, predictions or comments about the elections until 06.00 p.m. (1500GMT).
Between 06.00 p.m. (1500GMT) and 09.00 p.m. (1800GMT), media outlets will only be able to publish official announcements about the elections issued by Supreme Election Council.
Selling alcoholic beverages are banned from 06.00 a.m. (0300GMT) to 00.00 p.m. (2100GMT) while consumption of alcoholic beverages are also prohibited in public places.