Just five months after they last voted, Turks are preparing to head to the ballot box once again against a backdrop of growing security fears and deepening political division.
The previous vote in June left no party with an overall majority, and efforts to form a coalition failed, leading Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to call fresh elections.
The once-dominant AK party (AKP), which Erdogan formed, is now fighting to regain the single-party majority it had enjoyed for more than a decade.
It was lost largely as a result of the the emergence of the People's Democratic Party (HDP) - once a primarily Kurdish political group, but now garnering support from across the political spectrum with its message of secular liberalism seen as an alternative to what is perceived as the increasingly authoritarian, nationalist direction being taken by the AKP.
When the HDP passed the 10% electoral threshold to become the fourth party in parliament in June, it dashed President Erdogan’s hopes of the AKP being able to force through constitutional changes that would have seen a raft of executive powers transferred to his office.
During this latest campaign, both President Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davotoglu, who currently leads the AKP, have cast the latest election as a choice between stability and chaos - painting the recent violence in the country as the result of the inconclusive election result in June.
Last month more than 100 people were killed in a suicide bombing at an Ankara peace rally, blamed on Islamic State militants.
In the traditionally pro-AKP neighbourhood of Kasim Pasha in Istanbul, barber Ismail Dogan told Sky News the recent instability had left him in little doubt of the urgent need for the AKP to regain its majority.
He said: "There's terrorism, there's chaos, and now there’s the possibility of coalition - we're fed up with this. The best option is President Erdogan, and single-party rule."
At the same time the two-year ceasefire that had been negotiated between the Turkish government and the PKK Kurdish militant group has collapsed, leading to renewed battles in the east of the country.
In a cafe near the HDP's Istanbul offices, an unemployed Kurdish supporter told Sky News he feared the renewed violence would be used to discredit the party.
He said: "They are accusing us of being the same as the PKK, they are trying to persuade people not to support us, but it’s not true. HDP is not a party just for Kurds, but for all social democrats."
Given the high stakes in this election, and the aggressive closure of some opposition media outlets, civil rights groups have said they are worried about the potential for vote rigging and have said they intend to deploy thousands of observers to ballot boxes across the country.
If no single party receives an outright majority in this latest vote, they will have 45 days to try and form a coalition government.
With four parties likely to take seats there are numerous options for coalition formations, but if those efforts fail once again, Turkey will be plunged into further political uncertainty.
(Sky News)
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