Turkish presidential candidate Muharrem Ince withdrew from Sunday's tight election in a shock move that raised the chances of an opposition first-round victory.
Mr Ince, 59, announced his resignation after an online smear campaign that included doctored images of him meeting women and riding around in fancy cars.
In 2018, the secular nationalist picked up 30.6 per cent of the vote when he challenged President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the polls.
He then quit the main opposition party and launched his own movement that began to pull votes away from secular leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the joint candidate of the anti-Erdogan bloc.
"I'm withdrawing my candidacy," Mr Ince told reporters before Sunday's presidential and parliamentary ballot. "I am doing this for my country."
Mr Ince had come under fierce criticism from the opposition for entering the campaign only two months before the vote.
Critics saw him as a spoiler candidate who could only help Mr Erdogan extend his two-decade rule until 2028. He has already been in power since 2003.
Mr Ince said he offered voters a more vibrant alternative to Mr Kilicdaroglu, 74 — a bookish former civil servant with a dire national election record against Mr Erdogan.
The announcement appeared to catch Mr Erdogan, 69, off guard.
Election rallies in Turkey ahead of May 14 elections - in pictures
"One of the candidates has withdrawn. It is impossible to understand why this happened. Honestly, I am sad," he told a rally in Ankara.
"I wish he had continued until the end."
The last opinion polls suggested that Mr Kilicdaroglu was leading Mr Erdogan by a few percentage points but falling just short of breaking the 50 per cent threshold required for a first-round win.
Mr Erdogan's campaign has been hampered by Turkey's worst economic crisis since the 1990s and public frustration at the crackdown he unleashed after surviving a 2016 coup.
The opposition is now also more united than in any past campaign against him.
Mr Kilicdaroglu's six-party alliance spans Turkey's religious and cultural spectrum and includes some of Mr Erdogan's former allies.
It is the type of coalition that helped Mr Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted party keep winning at the polls.
This made Mr Ince's decision to run particularly frustrating for Mr Erdogan's foes.
His popularity has been ebbing away after touching nearly 15 per cent.
How the election is affecting Turkey's Syrians - in pictures
The latest surveys showed him picking up between two and four per cent of the vote.
But that might be enough to put Mr Kilicdaroglu over the top.
A snap Metropoll survey released on Thursday had 49 per cent of Mr Ince's support falling to Mr Kilicdaroglu and 22 per cent going to Mr Erdogan.
Mr Ince notably did not endorse any candidate after dropping out. His name will also still appear on the presidential ballot.
Another minor candidate, nationalist Sinan Ogan, is believed to be mostly drawing votes away from Mr Erdogan.
"Another crazy day in Turkish politics," emerging markets economist Timothy Ash said.
"Ince withdraws, with the assumption that most of his votes now go to Kilicdaroglu, making it possible/more likely [for a] first-round win."
Mr Kilicdaroglu has been appealing for days for Mr Ince to formally back his candidacy.
"Let's put aside the old resentments," he tweeted on Thursday. "We welcome Mr Ince to the Turkish [opposition] table. Please come, please."
Mr Erdogan has been staging daily rallies at which he announced incentives and bonuses aimed at winning support.
He pledged on Thursday to double the size of a previously promised wage rise for public workers.
