Even before voting began, long lines stretched Sunday in front of polling stations in major cities in Turkey and among the voters, 19-year-old Sela, who said, "They have been there since I was born, I want change!"

Sirin, 19, who is attending university exams, takes selfies with her electoral card and says of her first vote, "I am very excited, so I came so early."

A number of people opposed to the regime refuse to mention their last names in a country where they fear reprisals.

There are five million voters like these two young women, voting for the first time in these presidential and legislative elections.

The number of registered voters in Turkey reaches 64 million in about 200,000 polling stations, some of whom are determined to "restore their dignity" and others to "move forward" between boredom, hope and fear of tomorrow.

Nurka Sauer, wearing a headscarf, casts her vote in the conservative Uskudar neighborhood that supports the outgoing president on the Asian side of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, explaining, "I say + continue + with Erdogan."

In this neighborhood, Recep Tayyip Erdogan voted at noon, amid tight police protection.

"We were under good governance and things will get better," she said, despite the economic crisis.

For his part, Recep Turktan, 67, said, "What matters is that Turkey not be divided," which has a population of 85 million and is deeply divided.
On the other side of the Bosphorus, on the streets of the European district of Sisli, there is also a desire for unity. "Whether we are religious, secular, communist or otherwise, we should all live together in harmony," says Handi Teekay, 55.

The campaign, which was dominated by the issue of inflation, ended on Saturday at 18:00 (15:00 GMT) without any indications to reveal whether the results were in favor of Erdogan or Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the Republican People's Party (Social-Democratic), a candidate of a broad coalition of opposition.

"The economy is not a priority. We must start with the basic issues: restoring human rights, democracy and restoring our dignity," Handi Teekay said.

Next to her, Alfie Amenchi, wearing jeans and a tattoo on his hand, says, "To put it simply, we want the French Revolution: 'equality, freedom, fraternity', because all this has been lost in the past twenty years."

Erdogan has been in power since 2003, first as prime minister until 2014 and then as president.

Alvi Aminci is one of thousands of observers dispatched by the CHP to monitor the smooth running of the elections. The volunteer, who has been trained for three months and is assisted by a lawyer, monitors elections in a small Armenian school in Istanbul.

There, in the hall, a bronze statue of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, was erected a hundred years ago.

So far everything is going without a hitch. The controllers share coffee and pastries, and on the sidewalk three policemen talk to a pensioner who has just cast his vote. Nearby, flower sellers spread their bouquets on the sidewalks on Mother's Day in Turkey.

However, some fear that these conditions will deteriorate after the expected results are announced in the evening, after the polls close at 14:00 GMT.

"We will not celebrate in the street tonight even if the CHP wins. We have been asked to stay at home because there is a risk of violence. Fake news or not, I will wait for the results at home," Handi Teekay said.