'It's important to emphasize that in Antakya, Erdogan won by a large margin in the last election'

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00:00 Akia is a ghost town today.

00:02 I was here in February just after those earthquakes.

00:06 And I have to say, the city doesn't look particularly

00:08 different to how it was then.

00:10 Rubble still lines the streets.

00:12 Reconstruction certainly hasn't begun.

00:15 And life here is nowhere near normal.

00:17 It really is a ghost town.

00:18 The only place that has a hub of activity

00:21 are locations like this.

00:23 These are voting stations in temporary containers

00:26 where people can come and cast their ballot today.

00:29 Some of the people we've been talking to

00:31 live in tents in Antakya.

00:33 Others, though, have traveled in, often from very far away,

00:37 to cast their ballot in this election

00:38 because they consider it to be essential for Turkey,

00:41 for Turkey's democracy.

00:42 This is a country where there is normally very high turnout

00:46 in elections.

00:47 In this city, something like 89% of people

00:49 voted in the elections of 2018.

00:53 And I spoke to a woman a short while ago.

00:54 And from her, we really got a sense of the emotion of today.

00:58 She said, look, she nearly died in the earthquake.

01:00 It took hours of people to rescue her.

01:02 She now lives about a nine-hour drive away in the city of Konya.

01:06 And she interestingly also said that what

01:08 happened to her during the quake and the response to the quake

01:11 has affected how she's chosen to vote today.

01:14 She didn't tell us who she's voting for.

01:16 And that's obviously just one person.

01:17 But it is perhaps indicative of the anger here

01:21 and the emotion on this really crucial voting day in Turkey.

01:24 Yeah, Nadia, with the city still needing to be rebuilt,

01:28 it raises a question of if that changes

01:30 how people see their vision for the country and the future.

01:35 Any idea what the quakes--

01:38 how it impacts voters' opinions?

01:40 Well, what I can tell you is that the campaigning

01:47 by President Erdogan and his opponent, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu,

01:50 has been rather different here in the South.

01:52 President Erdogan has said, we will rebuild these regions,

01:57 these earthquake zones, within one year.

01:59 Now, Kılıçdaroğlu hasn't given a timeline for that.

02:02 He's instead said, actually, what we need to do

02:05 is prioritise safe reconstruction of buildings.

02:07 Now, that's obviously a reference to the fact

02:09 that since the earthquake, it's emerged

02:11 that thousands of buildings were built in this region,

02:14 even though authorities knew they weren't safe.

02:17 So that clearly is an issue here in the South.

02:19 But it's important to emphasise that in this city in particular,

02:22 Antakya, Erdogan won by a large margin in the last election.

02:26 He won 56% of the vote here.

02:28 So the opposition's been campaigning hard.

02:30 Kılıçdaroğlu has been here several times.

02:32 But of course, we'll have to wait and see when the polls close

02:34 tonight, whether he's done enough to capitalise on the anger here

02:39 to win the city of Antakya and to win elsewhere in the country

02:41 as well.

02:42 Yeah, the earthquake response, certainly a big issue.

02:45 Nationally, there are many other concerns as well, aren't there?

02:47 Tell us a little bit about those.

02:49 I mean, huge concerns nationally, Will.

02:55 The economy is one, to borrow a phrase from American politics.

02:59 It's the economy, stupid.

03:02 Turkey's inflation rate last year sat at a whopping 85%.

03:07 That's according to official sources.

03:08 But the opposition say that figure is actually likely far higher.

03:12 The Turkish lira has lost 60% of its value against the US dollar.

03:17 And many Turks simply can't afford

03:19 to live their lives in a normal way.

03:20 They can't afford to buy food.

03:21 They can't afford to-- or it's very expensive for them

03:23 to heat their houses.

03:24 And that's an issue that Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has

03:27 tried to gain a bit of ground on in this election.

03:29 He carried out a little bit of a publicity stunt

03:32 where he chose not to pay his own electricity

03:35 bills to make a point as to how expensive they were.

03:37 That meant the power went off in his building.

03:41 So he's really trying to say in this election, look,

03:43 I am a man of the people.

03:45 I know what it's like to suffer like other Turks.

03:48 His videos on social media that have

03:50 been broadcast during this campaign

03:52 are often done from inside his kitchen.

03:54 He has some shopping bags on the table.

03:56 It's very informal.

03:57 It's very relaxed.

03:58 That is sharp contrast to President Erdogan,

04:00 a real sort of populist, charismatic figure

04:03 who's been speaking in front of big crowds.

04:05 So two very different visions for Turkey today,

04:09 two very different leaders.

04:11 And according to the polls, the race

04:13 is going to be extremely close indeed.

04:14 So we'll be watching closely.

04:16 We'll see what happens tonight.

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