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Ankara:
Polls have opened in Turkey where more than 50 million Turks are
eligible to cast their ballots to elect a new 550-seat parliament.
Voting started at 7am (0400 GMT) on Sunday in eastern Turkey and
an hour later in the west.
All polling stations are expected to close at 1400 GMT and
preliminary results are expected after 1800 GMT.
Voters were queuing outside polling stations in Ankara, the
Turkish capital, as voting began, the AFP news agency reported.
Casting his vote in Ankara, the capital Abdullah Gul, Turkey's
president, saidit was time for the country to come together and
vote.
"Our nation will make its decision today," Gul told reporters.
"Whatever has been said at election rallies will stay there.
Tomorrow is the day to join forces."
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, whose Justice
and Development Party (AKP) is seeking a third term, was among
early voters in Istanbul, Turkey's main city, where he is standing
as a deputy.
"We have spoken, and now it is time for the people to speak,"
Erdogan said. "For us, this will be the most honourable decision
and one that we will have to respect. As far as I know, the
election process is continuing through the country without any
problems."
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition Republican
People's Party (CHP), also voted on Sunday morning in Ankara.
"We have come to the end of a long marathon," Kilicdaroglu said.
"Today is the time for a decision by the people. We will respect
their decision. There is a good mood. There is a democracy feast."
Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP),
is expected to vote in the southern province of Osmaniye.
Candidates from 15 parties, as well as many independent
candidates, are in the fray.
Party leaders have been travelling the country for weeks, often
addressing several rallies a day.
Al Jazeera's Muhammad Vall, reporting from the Ankara polling
station where Gul voted , said that hundreds of people had voted
on Sunday morning.
"We can see how much enthusiasm there is for voting, even among
the elderly," our correspondent said.
Vall said there was some polarisation between different factions
within Turkish society, as was always the case in the country.
"But this is the first election perhaps in the history of Turkey
where the main paradigm has shifted from ideology to practical
matters, like economy, like reducing poverty, like the rights of
minorities."
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