Today is the first round of the Turkish presidential and parliamentary elections. Thirty-six parties have formed alliances, but the main competition is between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the main opposition candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
A second round of elections will be held in the event that no candidate is able to cross the threshold of “50 percent + one”, and then the two candidates who receive the highest votes in the first round will face off in the second round.
This year's elections may be the most important one since the first multi-party elections in 1946. They are taking place under difficult economic conditions and very deep divisions between the opposing parties on almost all issues.
The elections coincide with the centenary of the founding of the Turkish Republic, so there is also great symbolic value attached to the winner.
