one candidate withdrew from the electoral race three days before the presidential election

Ince’s withdrawal from the race could help the opposition trying to defeat incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“I withdraw my candidacy,” Muharrem Ince told reporters.

He said fake sex images circulating on social media convinced him to quit. Ince complained that for 45 days he was slandered and lynched by the media and the Turkish authorities failed to protect his reputation.

“Fake invoices, fake videos, fake photos… they took a video from an Israeli porn site and added my face to it. Unfortunately, some people in Turkey shared them for the sake of being in the so-called opposition,” he said.

However, Ince admitted that he did not want to be accused by the alliance of opposition parties that the election was lost because of him. Ince’s decision to step down gives Kemal Kilicdaroglu, President Erdogan’s main rival, a big boost, experts say. Kilicdaroglu, 74, leads an alliance of six opposition parties and the latest polls give him 49 percent of the vote.

Even if Ince does not have many votes, his withdrawal could be decisive in the electoral confrontation. Erdogan has ruled his country for more than 20 years, but now he faces the most balanced election yet. Turkey has an inflation rate of 44% and Erdogan has been criticized for his intervention in the wake of the February earthquakes.

(source: AFP)