Polling stations closed in Turkey, election results by midnight

ANKARA, (Patria) - Polling stations in Turkey's snap parliamentary and presidential elections have closed, and the first results are expected by evening, Al Jazeera reports.

56 million citizens of Turkey in the country and nearly three million in the diaspora had the right to elect the president and 600 members of parliament.

Turks voted for the first time in these elections under the new constitution adopted at last year's referendum.

The elections are considered historic, as after them Turkey will transition from a parliamentary to an executive presidential system, which gives the head of state broad powers and abolishes the office of prime minister.

Current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan advocates for such a system, while the main opposition candidates do not support it.

For the first time in Turkish parliamentary practice, parties announced coalitions, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), while on the other side, four opposition parties (CHP, IYI, SD, and DP) signed an agreement on coalition cooperation.

The pro-Kurdish HDP remained outside the coalitions, and according to opinion polls, it is on the verge of the threshold but has a good chance of entering parliament. The Turkish electoral system is known for the highest threshold in the world, as high as 10 percent.