as the middle east explains erdewan's idea of a presidential democracy bears little resemblance to thed states. >> in u.s. there are connects and checks and balances but what president erdewan has in mind is no checks and balances and could lead to an imperil presidency in a sense where erdewan calls the shots and there is no authority or institution that can track his powers. >>> washington is watching this election very closely, turkey is a crucial and even indispensable ally in the fight against i.s.i.l. and washington has some serious differences over strategy and priority. for example in syria turkey and saudi arabia are balk backing anti-assad and includes groups washington calls extreme but as the council on foreign relations explains washington has had little choice but to deal with erdewan and his party. >> i think washington has been hampered by the fact that no one can point to any viable alternative to the justice and development party or president erdewan and prime minister and one of the big problems in turkey is the lack luster performance of opposition parties. >> repor

most of that criticism though has been directed at erdewan the former prime minister elected presidentsummer allowing for him to take office. this is the first time in ten years the act party will be contesting general elections without erdewan. the man main main is the country foreign minister and current pm. the party is hoping that a win in this election will prove that people vote for them based on their policies and not based on personalities. we caught up with him on his campaign bus to find out what the main challenges he believes his party faces. >> there are many expectations for people because of the success story, the standards and expectations today in turkey is much higher than 2002 and we are increasing the standards to another level when we came around $2700 now $10400. >> people say it's based on personality and not policies, what do you say to those people? >> our party is a part of ideals and targets. in that sense we have many skillful candidates skillful leaders of the party. >> reporter: it's not only erdewan what is absent from these elections, 73 of the akp's mos