ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Millions of Turks flocked to vote on Sunday in a parliamentary election seen as crucial to the future direction of this large Muslim but secular democracy straddling Europe and the Middle East.

Opinion polls show the ruling pro-business, Islamist-rooted AK Party government winning a fresh five-year mandate but strong gains by nationalist and secularist opposition parties could slash its majority and result in slower reforms.

“Now the people will speak,” Sunday’s Milliyet daily said.

Newspapers splashed pictures across their front pages of empty beaches at Turkey’s coastal resorts after many people postponed or cut short holidays in order to go home to vote.

Turkish television showed long queues forming at the polling stations. Many Turks voted early to avoid midday temperatures forecast to rise as high as 40 degrees Celsius. Voting is compulsory in Turkey and turnout is expected to be very high.

Polling booths close at 4 p.m. (1300 GMT) in east Turkey. In the west, including the capital Ankara, the main commercial city Istanbul and coastal resorts, they will close an hour later.

Unofficial results are due after 9 p.m. (1800 GMT). Some 43 million Turks out of a population of 74 million can vote.

“This is a very important election. We need to keep the AK Party. They have done good things for Turkey. Before, things were very bad for the economy,” said Rasim Ipek, 23, a grocery store worker, before voting in central Istanbul.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, 53, Turkey’s most popular politician, called the poll months early after the secular elite, including the powerful army, stopped him appointing a fellow ex-Islamist, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, as president.

The secularists accuse the AK Party of plotting to undermine Turkey’s separation of religion and state, a claim it rejects.

Erdogan hopes Turkey’s strong economic growth and tumbling inflation will boost AK Party support. He believes a victory for his party will also boost democracy in Turkey, whose army removed a government it deemed too Islamist just 10 years ago.

The charismatic leader pledges more economic, social and political reforms needed to join the European Union despite growing skepticism over whether the bloc will let Turkey join.

Only two other parties — the centre-left but nationalist Republican People’s Party (CHP) and far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) — look set to pass the high 10 percent national threshold to enter parliament.

Some independent, mostly pro-Kurdish candidates, are also tipped to win seats in the 550-member parliament.

Opposition claims that Erdogan’s party threatens the secular system have struck a chord with some voters.

“This government tried to destroy some of the foundations of Turkey. This is not a religious country,” said student Ayse Akpinar, 20, who said she voted for an independent candidate.

“I would definitely feel under pressure to wear a headscarf if the ban were lifted,” she said, referring to the Muslim garment currently forbidden in universities and public offices.

Hostel worker Cem Can, 30, said: “I want Erdogan to go. Yes the economy is going well but … we don’t want problems stemming from religion. I don’t want women to have to wear veils. This is Turkey, not Iran.”

“I am voting for the MHP because of the PKK (Kurdish militant) issue and because they will have a proper foreign policy towards the United States and Europe,” Can added.

The MHP is deeply skeptical about Turkey’s EU bid.

Turkish security forces have been battling PKK Kurdish rebels since 1984 in a conflict that has cost more than 30,000 lives. Violent clashes have increased over the past year.

The next government will have to decide whether to send the army into northern Iraq to crush PKK rebels based there, a move that is increasingly worrying the United States.