Muharrem Ince: Turkish presidential candidate quits days before election

He notably did not endorse any candidate after dropping out of the presidential race

Muharrem Ince, leader of Turkey's Homeland Party, announces his withdrawal from the presidential race on May 11. EPA

Turkish presidential candidate Muharrem Ince withdrew from Sunday's tight election in a shock move that raised the chances of an opposition first-round victory.

Mr Ince, 59, announced his resignation after an online smear campaign that included doctored images of him meeting women and riding around in fancy cars.

In 2018, the secular nationalist picked up 30.6 per cent of the vote when he challenged President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the polls.

He then 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," Mr Ince told reporters before Sunday's presidential and parliamentary ballot. "I am doing this for my country."

Mr Ince had come under fierce criticism from the opposition for entering the campaign only two months before the vote.

Critics saw him as a spoiler candidate who could only help Mr Erdogan extend his two-decade rule until 2028. He has already been in power since 2003.

Mr Ince said he offered voters a more vibrant alternative to Mr Kilicdaroglu, 74 — a bookish former civil servant with a dire national election record against Mr Erdogan.

The announcement appeared to catch Mr Erdogan, 69, off guard.

Election rallies in Turkey ahead of May 14 elections - in pictures

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  Turkish President and People's Alliance's candidate Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a campaign rally in Ankara. AFP

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  Emine Erdogan, the President's wife, greets his supporters in Ankara on Sunday. AFP

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  Supporters of Mr Erdogan at the Ankara rally. AFP

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  Mr and Mrs Erdogan wave to supporters. AFP

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  Mr Erdogan delivers his speech in Ankara on Sunday. AFP

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  Mr Erdogan delivers his speech in Ankara on Sunday. AFP

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  Mr Erdogan delivers his speech in Ankara on Sunday. AFP

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  Supporters of Mr Erdogan wave Turkish flags at the Ankara rally. AFP

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  The Erdogans wave to supporters. AFP

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  Erdogan supporters smile at the campaign rally. AFP

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  Supporters listen to Mr Erdogan's address in Ankara on Sunday. AP

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  Mr Erdogan speaks with an Ankara football club's scarf around his neck. AP

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  Supporters of Turkey's Republican People's Party chairman and Presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu rally in Izmir, Turkey, on Sunday. Republican People's Party Press Service / AFP

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  Mr Kilicdaroglu delivers a speech in Izmir. Republican People's Party Press Service / AFP

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  Mr Kilicdaroglu and his wife Selvi wave to supporters. Republican People's Party Press Service / AFP

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  Mr and Mrs Kilicdaroglu pose in front of thousands of his supporters. Republican People's Party Press Service / AFP

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  Mr Kilicdaroglu's supporters throng in Izmir. Republican People's Party Press Service / AFP

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  Supporters of Mr Kilicdaroglu make the heart gesture in Izmir. Republican People's Party Press Service / AFP

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  Supporters wave flags and chant while awaiting the arrival of CHP presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu at a campaign rally on Sunday in Izmir, Turkey. He is considered to pose a major threat to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's long rule in the May elections. Getty

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  Mr Kilicdaroglu addresses his supporters on Sunday. Republican People's Party Press Service / AFP

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  Supporters await Mr Kilicdaroglu's arrival in Izmir. Getty

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  Supporters await Mr Kilicdaroglu's arrival in Izmir. Getty

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  The Kilicdaroglus return the heart gesture to his supporters. Getty

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  Supporters await Mr Kilicdaroglu's arrival in Izmir. Getty

"One of the candidates has withdrawn. It is impossible to understand why this happened. Honestly, I am sad," he told a rally in Ankara.

"I wish he had continued until the end."

The last opinion polls suggested that Mr Kilicdaroglu was leading Mr Erdogan by a few percentage points but falling just short of breaking the 50 per cent threshold required for a first-round win.

Mr Erdogan's campaign has been hampered by Turkey's worst economic crisis since the 1990s and public frustration at the crackdown he unleashed after surviving a 2016 coup.

The opposition is now also more united than in any past campaign against him.

Mr Kilicdaroglu's six-party alliance spans Turkey's religious and cultural spectrum and includes some of Mr Erdogan's former allies.

It is the type of coalition that helped Mr Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted party keep winning at the polls.

This made Mr Ince's decision to run particularly frustrating for Mr Erdogan's foes.

His popularity has been ebbing away after touching nearly 15 per cent.

How the election is affecting Turkey's Syrians - in pictures

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  Since the Syrian war broke out in 2011, Turkey has become the new home of at least 3.7 million people who fled the regime of President Bashar Al Assad, Russian bombardments and ISIS. All photos: AFP

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  Most have temporary protection status, leaving them vulnerable to forced return

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  The secular CHP party of Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who is running neck-and-neck against Mr Erdogan, pledges to repatriate Syrian refugees 'within two years'

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  'May Erdogan win,' says Neroz Hussein (pictured), a mother from Kurdish-majority Kobane in Syria's north-west. 'Recep Tayyip Erdogan will help us stay'

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  "Even if they don't send us back all at once, they will put pressure on us, demand papers, increase our rents and bills," she says.

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  About 240,000 Syrians have obtained Turkish citizenship and the accompanying right to vote in the approaching polls, in which a new parliament will also be elected

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  They can gain citizenship by investing or, like Hussein Utbah (pictured), by becoming students in sought-after fields such as electrical engineering

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  'My friends and I all have the same view: not only because we are Syrians, but because of what we see he has done for the country,' he said of Mr Erdogan

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  Hussein also scoffed at the CHP's pledge to ensure Syrians' 'voluntary and dignified' return. 'We can't go back and trust Bashar al-Assad,' said Hussein, whose family fled Raqqa when it became the self-proclaimed ISIS capital in 2015

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  Syrians also provide a source of cheap labour on Turkish farms, construction sites and textile mills, causing some analysts to believe mass repatriation is unrealistic

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  Mohamed Utbah (pictured) wondered why anyone would want to send him back. 'We're not doing anything wrong here, we're useful to Turkey'

The latest surveys showed him picking up between two and four per cent of the vote.

But that might be enough to put Mr Kilicdaroglu over the top.

A snap Metropoll survey released on Thursday had 49 per cent of Mr Ince's support falling to Mr Kilicdaroglu and 22 per cent going to Mr Erdogan.

Mr Ince notably did not endorse any candidate after dropping out. His name will also still appear on the presidential ballot.

Another minor candidate, nationalist Sinan Ogan, is believed to be mostly drawing votes away from Mr Erdogan.

"Another crazy day in Turkish politics," emerging markets economist Timothy Ash said.

"Ince withdraws, with the assumption that most of his votes now go to Kilicdaroglu, making it possible/more likely [for a] first-round win."

Mr Kilicdaroglu has been appealing for days for Mr Ince to formally back his candidacy.

"Let's put aside the old resentments," he tweeted on Thursday. "We welcome Mr Ince to the Turkish [opposition] table. Please come, please."

Mr Erdogan has been staging daily rallies at which he announced incentives and bonuses aimed at winning support.

He pledged on Thursday to double the size of a previously promised wage rise for public workers.