Turkish Parliamentary Elections Hold Future of Presidency In Sway

Voters in Turkey went to the polls Sunday to cast ballots in a critical race that will help determine whether the country’s president will gain a range of new powers.
Although President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was not on the ballot, his party made clear that if it gained enough of a majority in parliamentary elections, it would help push through his vision of a presidential system.
Its greatest threat was a relative newcomer: the Kurdish-rooted People’s Democratic Party, which was aiming for enough votes to enter parliament for the first time.
If the HDP managed to do so, it would take away key ruling party seats, blocking Erdogan and his ruling AKP from achieving their wish.
According to local reports, pollsters said the result could go either way and tensions were high, with more than 400,000 security personnel dispatched across Turkey.