'Turkish Berlusconi' woos disgruntled voters with his promise of a tax-free future

He promises to eliminate taxes, build 400 universities, give free meals to the poor and send the International Monetary Fund packing.

The bid for power by the billionaire Turkish media mogul Cem Uzan might be laughable, if his Youth Party weren't doing so well in opinion polls for tomorrow's elections. Mr Uzan was dismissed by pundits as a joke when he launched his campaign in August. But his rapid rise in popularity has set alarm bells ringing.

The businessman's anti-IMF, ultra-nationalist rhetoric has struck a chord with Turkish voters feeling the crunch of a severe recession and the government's IMF-backed austerity measures.

Known as "Turkey's Berlusconi", the owner of eight radio stations, four television channels and two newspapers is, unsurprisingly, nothing if not media savvy. The 42-year-old hired Turkey's best-known image maker to design his campaign, putting his vast wealth at his disposal. Every detail is carefully orchestrated ­ from Mr Uzan's distinctive open-necked white shirts to showy rallies to text messages delivered to users of his Telsim mobile phone network, Turkey's second largest. Nothing is left to chance. Mr Uzan refuses to join television talk shows or speak to journalists. One-line wonders such as "Turkey belongs to the Turks!" and "We will not bow to foreigners!" are ironic coming from Mr Uzan who, international business dealings aside, was for years a fixture of the European jet set.

An acquaintance of Sarah Ferguson ­ she came to Turkey as his guest ­ and a donor to the Prince of Wales Trust, Mr Uzan also owns multimillion-pound property in Belgravia, London, and Park Avenue, New York.

But more is at stake here than one man's bid for political power. The Uzan family is being sued in New York by the global mobile phone giants Motorola and Nokia for allegedly borrowing more than $2bn (£1.3bn) to build a wireless network with no intention of paying them back.

The high-profile case is being closely watched by international investors. The Bush administration has stepped in on Motorola's behalf. The Uzans deny the charges, citing Turkey's economic crisis as reason for delaying payments. Should Mr Uzan be elected to parliament, under a quirk of Turkish law he will be granted immunity from prosecution.

Polls show his Youth Party with some 13 per cent of the national vote, one of only three parties likely to cross a national 10 per cent threshold required to send MPs to parliament. Turkish voters, fed up with a recession caused by a shock devaluation last year that left them 40 per cent poorer overnight, now appear poised to deliver a resounding protest vote tomorrow.

None of the three parties currently sharing power looks likely even to cross the 10 per cent threshold.

Leading the polls with about 25 per cent is the pro-Islamic Justice and Development Party, another new party, led by the youthful former mayor of Istanbul.

Taha Akyol, a political commentator, said: "To be sure, Cem Uzan is a professional propaganda machine. But not everyone who does this becomes so popular. That requires specific conditions, provided by the [economic] crisis environment."

Mr Uzan has been accused of ruthless populism. But come the election, he may yet have the last word.