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               Turkey Votes in First Direct Presidential Election

   by VOA News

   Millions of people in Turkey are voting Sunday in the country's first
   direct presidential election.

   Turnout is expected to be high as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
   faces Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, former chief of the Organization of Islamic
   Cooperation, and Selahattin Demirtas of the pro-Kurdish People's
   Democracy Party.

   Erdogan is the front-runner.  If elected, he says he intends to change
   the constitution and establish an executive presidency.  In the past,
   Turkey's presidents have been ceremonial figureheads.

   The prime minister has said he would exercise the full powers of the
   presidency under Turkey's existing laws, including the authority to
   call parliament, summon Cabinet meetings and appoint prime ministers,
   the council of ministers and some high court judges.

   Religious conservatives, who are Erdogan's core supporters, see his
   likely rise to the presidency as the crowning achievement of his drive
   to reshape Turkey.   In his decade as prime minister, he has broken the
   hold of the secular elite that dominated government since the founding
   of the modern Turkish republic in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

   The prime minister's critics are disturbed by his Islamist political
   roots and his increasingly authoritarian bent.  In the past year,
   Erdogan has purged thousands of police and prosecutors, increased the
   powers of the intelligence agency and banned access to YouTube and
   Twitter as he fought off corruption probes that implicated the
   government and family members.

   Erdogan's campaign slogan is "national will, national power." He says
   whatever the outcome of Sunday's election, Turkey will not be the same.

   If none of the candidates has an absolute majority, a run-off vote will
   be held August 24.

   ^Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/turkey-votes-in-first-direct-presiden
   tial-election/2408633.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/turkey-votes-in-first-direct-presidential-election/2408633.html