(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Turkey's prime minister has cast his vote as high-profile figures join millions of Turkish citizens going to the polls in the country's 25th general election.
Ahmet Davutoglu voted in Konya, central Turkey € his home province € early on Sunday morning.
Voting began at 8.00 a.m. (0600GMT).
More than 53.7 million Turks are eligible to vote in a poll to elect 550 deputies to the Grand National Assembly.
Co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtas, also cast his vote in Istanbul. "We hope that a result which will contribute to Turkey's civil peace, freedom and democracy will come up when the ballot boxes are opened in the evening," Demirtas told reporters.
Figen Yuksekdag, HDP co-leader, cast her vote in the eastern Turkish province of Van. She told reporters: "We, as party members and volunteers, have conducted a very intensive struggle to meet with the ballot boxes and to reveal our democratic will. It was a struggle to reach democracy and ballot boxes."
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had earlier cast his vote in Alanya, southern Antalya. "I hope democracy will win today. I hope common sense wins in Turkey," he told reporters.
Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci had earlier cast his vote in the western province of Denizli. "We are going to the people who are the most important and only decision makers for our democracy," he said.
Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek cast his vote at a polling station in the capital Ankara, where he said Turks casting votes was one of the "beauties of democracy".
A total of 174,240 polling stations will be open until 5.00 p.m. local time (1500 GMT). Nearly a million Turks living abroad have already cast their ballots at 122 embassies and consulates.
The votes from 33 ballot stations at airports and border crossings will be collected when the polls close on Sunday.
Voters will be selecting a party, rather than a candidate, in 85 voting districts across the country under the closed list proportional representation system.
The election will be overseen by observers from civil society groups and political parties as well as international monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe.
OSCE Limited Election Observation Geert-Hinrich Ahrens is in Ankara to monitor the poll.
Of the 20 parties registered to contest the election, opinion polls suggest four parties could pass the 10 percent threshold to gain seats in the assembly.
The Justice and Development (AK) Party, which has been in government since 2002, the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are expected to take seats while pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) is aiming to enter parliament for the first time as a party.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.