In 2018, the results of the elections in Turkey were as follows: the voter turnout was 86.24%, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the candidate of the Justice and Development Party, won in the first round with 52.59% of the votes.
His opponent was Muharrem Ince from the Republican People's Party.
The Republican People's Party led in the coastal and western provinces, as well as in Izmir, the stronghold of the opposition, but they received only 30.64% of the votes, and the battle was already decided in advance.
The eastern regions, which have a Kurdish majority, mostly voted for the candidate of the Kurdish Democratic Peoples' Party, Salahaddin Demirtas, who received 8.4% of the votes.
7.29% of the votes went to Meral Aksener, the leader of the Good Party.
Today, the situation is different. Firstly, there is no Kurdish party candidate, and therefore, it is expected that the eastern regions will vote for the Republican Party candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, against Erdogan.
There are no prominent candidates from any opposition parties; even the Good Party, which received 8.4% of the votes in 2018, is participating in the opposition coalition.
In addition, there are four main issues to focus on.
The public mood has changed in Istanbul, which had a majority for Erdogan in 2019.
For example, the opposition won the recent municipal elections in the city with a majority of 54.22%, and the same happened in the capital, Ankara, where the opposition won with 51%.
Today, the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, and the mayor of Ankara have been promised by the opposition collation to be appointed as deputies to the president in case of victory.
Other important regions are the areas that were affected by the earthquake in Turkey.
These areas have voted for Erdogan. However, it remains to be seen how they will vote today as the hours progress.
The second factor that will affect the election results is the percentage of young voters in Turkey who are voting for the first time, and the number is more than 5 million.
These issues will determine the outcome tonight.
Will the opposition unite and win over 50% of the vote to regain control of Turkey after two decades of Erdogan's rule?
Or will Erdogan survive the first round and renew his rule? Or will none of the candidates reach 50%, and we go to a second round? We will know in a few hours.