President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is taking a gamble that will consolidate his hold on power in Turkey if he emerges victorious from Sunday’s landmark presidential and parliamentary vote.
But winning the election he called more than a year early might not be as straightforward as he might have hoped.
For the first time, Turkey’s disparate opposition – made up of secularists, nationalists, Islamists and Kurds – is showing a more united front, with some parties joining forces.
Meanwhile the economy, to which Erdogan could once point as a shining example of his success in bringing prosperity to his people, is looking increasingly shaky.
“The polls suggest that for the electorate, the economic issues are overtaking security issues,” says Serhat Guvenc, professor at Kadir Has University.
