The Turkish Prime Minister, Mr Bulent Ecevit, is expected to emerge ahead in tomorrow's elections, but doubts persist that Turkey can quickly achieve the strong coalition vital to economic reform.
The polls come on the eve of the trial of the Kurdish rebel leader, Mr Abdullah Ocalan, whose capture may help Mr Ecevit's Democratic Left Party (DSP) outflank the Islamist Virtue Party. But the "Ocalan factor", while buoying Mr Ecevit in most regions, seems less likely to help in the troubled southeast. Here, the Kurdish HADEP could win control of some councils in parallel polls.
In the west, Virtue hopes to retain major cities, including Istanbul.
The army, which eased Turkey's first Islamist-led government from power in 1997, has warned secularist parties against the temptation of courting Virtue in pursuit of power.