Campaigning in Turkey’s pivotal elections ends, voting nears

ZEYNEP BILGINSOY
Associated Press

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish politicians have held their final rallies in the last hours of campaigning before Sunday’s pivotal presidential and parliamentary elections that will significantly shape the NATO member’s future, before a so-called propaganda ban went into effect. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing the toughest challenge ever in his two decades of power. He was speaking at neighborhood rallies in Istanbul. His challenger is Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the pro-secular, center-left Republican People’s Party, who is the joint candidate of six opposition parties. He held his final rally on Friday in the capital, Ankara, in the pouring rain.