Campaigning is prohibited in Turkey on Saturday, as the presidential elections are scheduled for tomorrow, August 10. If no candidate secures victory in the first round, the second round of voting will be held on August 24.
The elections will begin at 8am and last till 5pm local time. Entertainment TV programmes and selling of spirits will be prohibited on the day of the elections.
For the first time the country's president will be elected by a popular vote. The corresponding decision was made by the Turkish people during the 2007 referendum.
Three candidates are running for president. They are the incumbent Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the former Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, who was nominated by the major opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and Selahattin Demirtaş of the Peoples' Democratic Party.
The official results of the elections will be published on August 15. The preliminary results will be announced on August 11.
