23 June 2018•Update: 24 June 2018
By Ferdi Turkten
ANKARA
The rallies and campaign vans have fallen silent, along with broadcast electioneering, hours before Turkey’s polls are due to open.
By order of the Supreme Election Council (YSK), all campaigning and opinion ahead of Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary elections ended as of 6 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) on Saturday.
The ban includes opinion-driven news or comments and opinion columns in all media outlets in the country.
On Election Day, June 24, only YSK news and announcements are allowed on radio, TV, and other media organs until 9 p.m. (1800GMT).
After 9 p.m., free broadcasts will resume. The YSK can lift the restrictions earlier if necessary.
Turkey on Sunday will vote in presidential and parliamentary elections.
Six candidates are running for president: Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the People’s Alliance formed by Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Muharrem Ince for the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Selahattin Demirtas for the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), Meral Aksener for the Good () Party, Temel Karamollaoglu for the Felicity (Saadet) Party, and Dogu Perincek for the Patriotic (Vatan) Party.
Erdogan has served as president since 2014 -- Turkey's first popularly elected president. Before that, he served as prime minister from 2003 to 2014.
Should he win the June 24 elections, Erdogan would be Turkey's first leader under the presidential system, which does away with the prime minister's post, among other changes.
