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Third-party candidate Muharrem Ince on Thursday withdrew from Turkey’s tight presidential election in a shock move that increased the opposition’s chances of a first-round victory.
The 59-year-old announced his decision after being targeted by an online smear campaign that included doctored images of him meeting women and driving expensive cars. The secular nationalist took 30.6 percent of the vote when he challenged President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the 2018 presidential polls.
Then he quit the main opposition party and launched his own movement that began to pull votes away from secular leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu — the joint candidate of the anti-Erdogan bloc.
“I’m withdrawing my candidacy,” Ince told reporters before Sunday’s vote. “I did it for my country.”
(AFP)