Erdogan set for comfortable win as Turks cast votes

Polling stations in country of 74 million open in east, later in Ankara, Istanbul; polls show Erdogan headed for significant win.

By REUTERS
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan 521 (R) (photo credit: Reuters)
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan 521 (R)
(photo credit: Reuters)
ANKARA - Turks began voting in an election on Sunday that is expected to return Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to office for a third consecutive term and could give him a mandate to rewrite the constitution.
A Muslim democracy and European Union-candidate, Turkey has become an economic powerhouse and influential player on the global stage since Erdogan's AK Party swept to power in 2002.
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Polling stations in the country of 74 million opened first in the east, including in the restive Kurdish region. There were no immediate reports of trouble. Polls were due to open later in the west, including in the capital Ankara and Istanbul.
"I hope these elections will be good for the country," said Mehmet Mikailoglu after casting his vote in Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's economically backward southeast where a decades-old Kurdish separatist conflict is focused.
Opinion polls have shown Erdogan set to win four more years of single-party rule in the nation that straddles Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
His support has been built on his success in creating a booming economy and in ending decades of chaotic coalitions, military coups and failed international financial bailouts.
The only doubt hanging over Sunday's vote was about the margin of victory. Erdogan needs more than a simple majority to be certain of pushing through plans for a new constitution to replace one written in 1982, two years after a military coup.
Erdogan, whose party evolved from banned Islamist movements, says the new charter will be based on democratic and pluralistic principles that will bring Turkey closer to EU standards.
While foreign investors traditionally have seen AK as the most market-friendly party, Erdogan's critics say he has an authoritarian streak. They fear he will use his growing power to switch to a more presidential system of government, with an eye on becoming president himself in the years ahead.
Opponents also point to rampant use of wiretaps by state agencies, the detention of journalists critical of the government, nepotism and a widening gap between rich and poor.
The outcome of Sunday's vote will have repercussions outside Turkey, a NATO member and US ally that has forged stronger ties with fellow Muslim neighbors.
Analysts have warned the new government will face sobering economic challenges. The current account deficit is ballooning, fiscal policy needs tightening to cool overheating and youth unemployment is high in a country where the average age is 28.