The prime minister is given an edge over secular leader Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas. On Sunday if no one gets an outright absolute majority, a runoff will be held on 24 August. Many fear Turkey's islamisation and a concentration of power in the new president's hands.

Istanbul (AsiaNews/Agencies) - In Turkey's current presidential campaign, frontrunner Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has portrayed himself as the founder of a "new Turkey". However, his critics fear he is pursuing a secret plan to Islamise the country. The presidential poll next Sunday will be the first direct presidential elections in the country's history.

In recent months, Erdogan, who is AKP party chief and prime minister since 2003, has worked hard to strengthen his image as the successor of the founder of modern secular Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, and as a major regional political player, offering himself as a mediator in the war of Gaza. For a time he was also proposed as a model for the Arab springs in the Middle East.

However, at the national level, he clashed with young people at Gezi Park and the Turkish middle class, tired of his authoritarian methods, and Muslims. At the regional level, his support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the anti-Assad Sunni militias cost him support.

His main rival is the moderate Muslim intellectual Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, a former head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the joint candidate for the two major secularist opposition parties, the CHP and the MHP, but he is given no more than 40 per cent.

Selahattin Demirtas, leader of the HDP Kurdish party, is expected to remain below 10 per cent.

Should surprisingly Erdogan not win in the first round on 10 August, a second round is scheduled for August 24.

Erdogan sees himself as Ataturk's legitimate successor, especially in terms of Turkey's modernisation.

In addition to a vibrant economy, he is pursuing the development of infrastructure projects such as a third bridge over the Bosphorus, high-speed train, and a third airport for Istanbul.

But many see him as an authoritarian caliph because of a number of laws he had approved. Now the government controls the justice system, the intelligence services have been strengthened, and freedom of expression has been stifled through greater controls over social networks.

Some decisions, such as the ban on selling alcohol in bars at night and the freedom for women to wear headscarves in universities, raise additional fears that the AKP will lead the country towards greater Islamisation, drowning out Ataturk's secular legacy.

• turkey
• presidential
• elections
• erdogan
• ataturk