Opposition sounds fraud warning as Turkey votes in crunch poll

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in Istanbul TURKEY’S opposition has called for an all-out effort to protect the vote in today’s elections, amid fears Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s supporters will try to rig the result to keep him in power.

Millions of Turks will go to the polls today in the country’s presidential and parliamentary elections, deciding whether to allow Mr Erdogan to continue his 15 years as president and to preserve his party’s majority in parliament. Mr Erdogan has a wide lead in the polls, but it is not clear if he will pass the 50 per cent threshold he needs to avoid a one-on-one runoff election against Muharrem Ince, the leader of the centre-Left Republican People’s Party (CHP).

Mr Ince, a 54-year-old former physics teacher, has run an unexpectedly spirited campaign and hopes that if he can reach a runoff against Mr Erdogan then all other opposition parties will throw their support behind him.

In his final campaign rally in Istanbul, Mr Ince warned that the president’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) would try to steal the election and prevent a runoff. He called on his supporters to flock to voting stations to prevent election fraud.

“I’m declaring 36 hours of mobilisation,” he told the crowd. “What time tomorrow will you be around the boxes? Not 6am – be there at 5.30am. And if you don’t have a health problem, you are going there tonight.” He also implored local officials not to go along with efforts to rig the result: “Don’t disgrace Turkey any more. You are the governors of the state, not Erdogan.”

In his own final campaign rally, Mr Erdogan scoffed at warnings of voter fraud. “What is that? This country is based on law,” he said.