Erdogan, rival Ince trade blows at final election rallies on eve of Turkey polls

Turkish incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his closest rival Muharrem Ince have traded blows in mass rallies just a day before the country’s most fiercely contested presidential and parliamentary elections in decades, Press TV reports.

Around 60 million registered Turkish voters are eligible to hit the polls in landmark snap elections on Sunday, with veteran and rhetorically-gifted Erdogan seeking a first-round victory for a new mandate and a strong parliamentary majority for his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

For his part, Ince, who is famous to have made fierce speeches in parliament against the AK Party, painted a gloomy picture in case that Erdogan emerged victorious in Sunday’s elections, saying Turkey’s currency would remain weak, prices high and the issue of some 3.5 million Syrian refugees unsolved.

“But if Ince wins, it will not just be Ince who wins... 80 million people will win! Turkey will win!” he said, addressing hundreds of thousands of his supporters who had crammed at the vast Maltepe shoreside on the Asian side of Istanbul for his final rally.