Turkey votes in presidential election on Thursday

The Reuters report has been published by Ankara, as voting continues.

The outcome is expected to be clear by early evening local time, with polling starting at 8 am 5 am GMT and ending at 5 am 2 am GMT. In many places, polling stations were quieter than two weeks ago, when turnout was 89%.

The election will determine not only who leads Turkey, a member of the Nato group, but also how it is governed, where it is headed after its currency plummet to one-tenth of its value against the dollar in a decade, and how it is shaped by its foreign policy, which has angered the West by cultivating ties with Russia and Gulf states.

Turkey's supporters gathered at a school near his home in the Asian side of the city, where he voted around midday, before shaking hands and talking with the crowd.

With God's permission, he will win. The country has many problems, but if anyone can solve them, he can, Nuran said, pointing to her three-year-old daughter.

In Ankara, 32-year-old Gulcan Demiroz said she hoped the vote would bring change and that her friends would otherwise go abroad, as she was considering doing, for a better life.

This country needs improvement, he said. He said we need a collective of minds, not a powerful, cold, distant man who rules single-handedly.

K l Daro Lu, 74, voted in Ankara. He is the candidate for a six-party opposition alliance, and leads the Republican People's Party CHP created by Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. His camp has been struggling to regain its momentum after trailing Erdoan in the first round.