Turkey's presidential candidates were set to stage their final rallies on Saturday, the last day of campaigning before elections, according to dpa. On Sunday, citizens for the first time will directly elect their head of state for a five-year term. Until now, the president was elected by parliament. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 60, from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is the front-runner in the three-way race on Sunday. His party has expressed confidence he can win in the first-round, though a run-off is scheduled for later this month, just in case. Erdogan is campaigning on his record of 11 years as premier and wants to change the governing system into a more executive style presidency. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, 71, is the joint candidate from the centre-left Republican People's Party (CHP) and the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The former head of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, an inter-governmental body, Ihsanoglu is in favour of keeping the presidency as a symbolic unifying role. Selahattin Demirtas, a Kurdish candidate, is also hoping to draw votes from the left with his liberal- and human rights-focused platform. He is the first Kurd to seek the office. A president can serve two terms. Erdogan has said he hopes to be the head of state in 2023, when Turkey marks 100 years since the founding of the modern republic by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Erdogan's opponents worry that an executive-style presidency will give more powers to someone they accuse of becoming increasingly authoritarian in recent years. A first-round win for Erdogan is considered important for his goal of enacting constitutional changes to strengthen the presidency. The vote, in many ways, is being seen as a referendum on the popular, yet polarizing, prime minister. Polls say the country is split down the middle about his performance. The AKP came out of local elections in March as the largest party with about 43 per cent of ballots, in the first vote since last year's Gezi Park protests. Campaigning must end at 6 pm (1500 GMT), ahead of polls opening at 8 am Sunday.
