Turkish voters go to polls in critical municipal elections

ISTANBUL (AP) — Voters in Turkey have begun casting ballots in municipal elections that are seen as a barometer of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's popularity amid a sharp economic downturn in the nation that straddles Europe and Asia.

More than 57 million voters are eligible to choose mayors, local representatives and neighborhood or village administrators. The elections are being held as Turkey faces an economic recession, rising food prices and high unemployment.

Erdogan's past electoral successes have been based on economic prosperity, but opinion polls suggest this time around his ruling party could lose control of Turkey's large cities, including Ankara, the capital.

Erdogan has campaigned heavily for his party's candidates, declaring Turkey's economic woes "an attack" on the country and framing the elections on Sunday as matter of "national survival." </s> Turkish voters go to polls in critical municipal elections

ISTANBUL (AP) — Voters in Turkey began casting ballots in Sunday's municipal elections, which are seen as a barometer of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's popularity amid a sharp economic downturn in the nation that straddles Europe and Asia.

More than 57 million eligible voters are making choices in 200,000 polling stations across the country to elect the mayors for 30 large metropolitan cities, 51 provincial capitals and 922 districts. They are also voting to elect local assembly representatives as well as tens of thousands of neighborhood or village administrators.

Erdogan's past electoral successes have been based on economic prosperity, but with a weakening currency, inflation at double-digit figures and food prices soaring, his conservative, Islamic-based ruling party could lose control of key mayoral seats.

The municipal elections are also a first test for Erdogan since he won elections last year that ushered in a new system that gave him wide powers.

Opposition parties are mostly coordinating strategies and running under alliances in an effort to maximize the chances to unseat ruling party officials.

The main battleground appears to be for Ankara, the capital, where opinion polls have suggested that Mansur Yavas, an opposition alliance candidate, could upset a quarter of a century rule by Erdogan's Justice and Development Party and its predecessor. Mehmet Ozhaseki, former minister of environment and urban planning, who is running on the ticket for Erdogan and his nationalist allies.

In Istanbul, Erdogan named former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, who also served previously as transport minister, to run against Ekrem Imamoglu from the opposition.

"Whoever wins Istanbul, wins Turkey," Erdogan has said in election rallies. His rise to power began as Istanbul mayor in 1994.

Erdogan has campaigned tirelessly for his party's candidates, portraying the country's economic woes as an attack by western nations on Turkey and has framed the race a matter of "national survival." On Saturday, he spoke at six rallies in Istanbul, which Turkish television stations broadcast live.

Erdogan has been using fiercely polarizing rhetoric against opposition candidates. The ruling party has accused Ankara mayoral candidate Yavas of forgery and tax evasion while also threatening to depose mayors from a pro-Kurdish party if they win seats in the country's predominantly Kurdish southeast.

Since 2016, Erdogan's government has replaced elected mayors in about 100 municipalities held by the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, replacing them with government-appointed trustees and claiming the ousted officials had alleged links to outlawed Kurdish militants.

The pro-Kurdish party aims to win back those seats. It is also strategically sitting out critical races in Turkey's major cities, including Istanbul and Ankara, with the aim of sending votes to their secular opposition rival to help challenge Erdogan's party. </s> ISTANBUL (AP) — The Latest on disputed mayoral elections in Turkey (all times local):

Turkey's state-run news agency says the country's highest electoral body has ruled for a rerun of the Istanbul mayoral election after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party challenged the legitimacy of the vote an opposition candidate narrowly won.

Anadolu Agency said the Supreme Electoral Board on Monday ruled in favor of Erdogan's conservative and Islamic-based party and annulled the results of the March 31 local election in Istanbul. It was not immediately clear when the election would be repeated.

In a major setback to Erdogan's 16-year rule, the opposition took control of local governments in the capital of Ankara and Istanbul, ending the ruling party's decades-long control of both cities.

Erdogan's party challenged the results in Istanbul, maintaining that alleged irregularities had affected the outcome.

Turkey's highest electoral board is meeting to decide whether an opposition politician is the rightful winner of Istanbul's mayoral race — or whether a new election must be held.

Ekrem Imamoglu narrowly won the race for mayor of Istanbul in Turkey's March 31 local elections, defeating ruling party candidate Binali Yildirim, a former prime minister.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party is however, challenging the result, citing alleged irregularities that it insists impacted the result of the vote. It wants the election in the city to be repeated.

The Supreme Electoral Board began its deliberations on Monday. A decision could come later or in the next few days. </s> Turkish election authorities have voided a major election victory for the country's main opposition party, according to Turkish state media. A re-run of the election for the mayor of Istanbul, Turkey's most populous city, will reportedly be held on June 23.

Ekrem Imamoglu from the opposition Republican People's Party (known as the CHP) narrowly won the mayor's race on March 31.

Imamoglu denounced the Turkish election authority in a speech to supporters on Monday, saying that they had buckled under pressure from the government, as Reuters reported. "They were placed under political pressure from day one."

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party, which has held that position of mayor of Istanbul for some 25 years, had file a complaint against the result.

Erdogan had said that there were "clearly irregularities" in the voting, as NPR's Peter Kenyon reported from Istanbul. According to the state-run Anadolu Agency, the country's Supreme Election Council ruled in favor of the ruling Justice and Development Party's complaint by seven votes to four.

"You are free to compete against the [ruling] AKP in an election, but you are not allowed to win," CHP deputy chairman Onursal Adiguzel said in a tweet. "This order, in which the will of the people is trampled on and the laws are ignored, is neither democratic nor legitimate. This is a downright dictatorship!"

The ruling party candidate, Binali Yildirim, has said that he hoped the ruling would mean "beneficial and beautiful results for Istanbul," as Reuters reported.

The Turkish lira tumbled on Monday afternoon as reports emerged of a re-run.

According to local newspaper Hurriyet, the AKP had alleged that "there were tens of thousands of ineligible voters who cast votes in the elections and that scores of polling station officials were appointed against regulations."

Some observers say the decision erodes democracy in Turkey.

"Until now, it was one man, one vote, from now on it is: vote until the governing party wins," said Soner Cagaptay, the director of the Turkish Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "Today's decision to reverse the Istanbul mayoral election is the greatest distortion of democratic elections in Turkey since the country's first free and fair polls in 1950."

Erdogan's party also lost the mayor's race in Ankara, the country's capital, in the March country-wide municipal elections where he was actively campaigning for his party's candidates.

Erdogan himself was mayor of Istanbul in the late 1990s. As the BBC notes, he has often remarked, "Whoever wins Istanbul wins Turkey." </s> ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey's top election authority voided the Istanbul mayoral election won by an opposition candidate and ordered a do-over, ruling Monday in favor of a request by the president's party to throw out the vote it narrowly lost.

 

 Opposition leaders said the Supreme Electoral Board's decision to invalidate the results from Istanbul's election raises concerns about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's grip on power and Turkish democracy in general.

 

 A top aide for Erdogan told The Associated Press that the voiding of the mayoral election in Turkey's biggest city amounts to "a victory for Turkish democracy" by ensuring the results reflect the voters' choice.

 

 Ekrem Imamoglu of the opposition Republican People's Party placed first by a slim margin in the March 31 mayoral election, defeating the ruling party candidate, former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. Erdogan's conservative and Islamic-based Justice and Development Party then charged that a series of election irregularities made the results illegitimate.

 

 Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency said the Supreme Electoral Board revoked Imamoglu's mandate and called a new election for June 23. As grounds to annul the March 31 results, the board said that some ballot station heads were not civil servants as required by law, the news agency said.

 

 Yildirim, the loser in the election, said he hoped the decision would lead to "beneficial and beautiful results for Istanbul."

 

 In a statement to the AP, presidential communications director Fahrettin Altun said: "Having held free and fair elections for nearly seven decades, Turkey will complete this process in a transparent, lawful and orderly manner."

 

 Leaders of the Imamoglu's main opposition party held an emergency meeting in the capital of Ankara late Monday.

 

 Addressing thousands of his supporters in Istanbul, Imamoglu accused the electoral board of bowing to pressure and threats from Erdogan's party. He vowed to use "democracy" to win back the "rights" that he said were taken away by force. The crowd called for the electoral board members to resign and accused Erdogan of stealing the vote.

 

 Kati Piri, the European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey, said on Twitter: "This ends the credibility of democratic transition of power through elections in Turkey."

 

 Police set up barricades around the electoral board's headquarters in Turkey's capital, but there were no immediate signs of major demonstrations. Protesters banged pots and pans in several Istanbul neighborhoods, the opposition Birgun newspaper reported.

 

 Howard Eissenstat, a Turkey expert at the nonprofit Project for Middle East Democracy and a Middle East history scholar at St. Lawrence University in New York, said Monday's ruling "removes the last fig leaf of competitive elections" hiding the erosion of democracy in Turkey.

 

 "Turkey wasn't democratic yesterday and it's not democratic today," Eissenstat said.

 

 He noted that Erdogan's party previously invalidated election results in Turkey's mostly Kurdish-populated regions after a pro-Kurdish party won and replaced elected mayors with government appointees.

 

 "Erdogan cannot afford to lose in the second round. It would a disastrous display of weakness," Eissenstat said.

 

 The local elections held across Turkey on March 31 produced setbacks for the president. His party lost city hall in the capital as well as in Istanbul, ending 25 years of the Justice and Development Party and its Islamist predecessor governing both cities.

 

 The loss of Istanbul, the country's commercial and cultural capital, was particularly hard for Erdogan. He began his political ascent as Istanbul's mayor.

 

 At pre-election rallies, the president had repeatedly told crowds, "Whoever wins Istanbul, wins Turkey" and "Whoever loses Istanbul, loses Turkey."

 

 Istanbul, with its 15 million residents and strategic location straddling Europe and Asia, accounted for 31% of Turkey's GDP of $851 billion in 2017 and draws millions of tourists.

 

 The city government had a budget of $8.8 billion last year. The municipality has awarded lucrative contracts to businesses close to the government over the years and offers huge financial resources and employment opportunities. </s> Turkish people headed to polls early Sunday to cast their ballots in the country's 81 provinces to vote for mayors, municipal mayors, city council members and other local officials.

Voting started at 7.00 a.m local time (0400GMT) and will continue through 4.00 p.m. local time (1300GMT) in 32 out of Turkey's 81 provinces.

In the remaining provinces, polling stations will open at 8.00 a.m and close at 5.00 p.m. local time (0050-1400GMT).

Mobile ballot boxes were brought to the homes of the sick and the elderly who are unable to get out and vote at the designated polling stations.

Voters living in Turkey's larger cities will vote to elect a mayor for the entire city, as well as district municipal mayors, city council members, mukhtars (neighborhood officials), and members of elder councils.

The voters will choose from 12 political parties competing in the local elections.

More than 44 million citizens are expected to vote at 142,777 polling places in 30 biggest cities, called metropolitan municipalities.

Meanwhile, 12.8 million voters will vote at 51,851 polling places across 51 provinces in Turkey.

Turkey is holding its first local elections under the new presidential system, adopted in the April 2017 referendum.

The previous local elections were held in 2014.

The major competing parties are the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Good (IYI) Party, and Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Also taking part are the Independent Turkey Party (BTP), Grand Unity Party (BBP), Democrat Party (DP), Democratic Left Party (DSP), Saadet (Felicity) Party, Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), and Patriotic (Vatan) Party.

Some political parties -- including the ruling AK Party -- announced alliances in some cities.

In the People's Alliance (Cumhur Ittifaki), the AK Party and MHP agreed to support each other's candidates in 30 metropolitan municipalities and 51 provinces.

The opposition has formed The Nation's Alliance (Millet Ittifaki), which brings the CHP and IYI Party together to support each other's candidates in 22 out of 30 metropolitan municipalities.

The CHP nominated 12 candidates and agreed to support 10 IYI Party candidates in metropolitan municipalities.

The parties reached consensus in 27 out of 51 provinces.

Election campaigns ended and a broadcast ban entered into force on Saturday in Turkey, as the country heads to local elections on Sunday.

According to the ban imposed by the Supreme Election Council (YSK), media organizations will not be allowed to broadcast any political advertising, predictions or comments about the polls from 6 p.m. local time (1500GMT) until 9 p.m. (1800GMT) on Sunday.

The YSK reserves the right to lift t </s> Turkish election authorities have voided a major election victory for the country's main opposition party, according to Turkish state media. A re-run of the election for the mayor of Istanbul, Turkey's most populous city, will reportedly be held on June 23.

Ekrem Imamoglu from the opposition Republican People's Party (known as the CHP) narrowly won the mayor's race on March 31.

Imamoglu denounced the Turkish election authority in a speech to supporters on Monday, saying that they had buckled under pressure from the government, as Reuters reported. ">

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party, which has held that position of mayor of Istanbul for some 25 years, had file a complaint against the result.

Erdogan had said that there were "clearly irregularities" in the voting, as NPR's Peter Kenyon reported from Istanbul. According to the state-run Anadolu Agency, the country's Supreme Election Council ruled in favor of the ruling Justice and Development Party's complaint by seven votes to four.

"You are free to compete against the [ruling] AKP in an election, but you are not allowed to win," CHP deputy chairman Onursal Adiguzel said in a tweet. "This order, in which the will of the people is trampled on and the laws are ignored, is neither democratic nor legitimate. This is a downright dictatorship!"

The ruling party candidate, Binali Yildirim, has said that he hoped the ruling would mean "beneficial and beautiful results for Istanbul," as Reuters reported.

The Turkish lira tumbled on Monday afternoon as reports emerged of a re-run.

According to local newspaper Hurriyet, the AKP had alleged that "there were tens of thousands of ineligible voters who cast votes in the elections and that scores of polling station officials were appointed against regulations."

Some observers say the decision erodes democracy in Turkey.

"Until now, it was one man, one vote, from now on it is: vote until the governing party wins," said Soner Cagaptay, the director of the Turkish Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "Today's decision to reverse the Istanbul mayoral election is the greatest distortion of democratic elections in Turkey since the country's first free and fair polls in 1950."

Erdogan's party also lost the mayor's race in Ankara, the country's capital, in the March country-wide municipal elections where he was actively campaigning for his party's candidates.

Erdogan himself was mayor of Istanbul in the late 1990s. As the BBC notes, he has often remarked, "Whoever wins Istanbul wins Turkey." </s> Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday welcomed an order to re-run the recent Istanbul election, a move the opposition has branded an attack on democracy.

His ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost the mayorship of Turkey's biggest city by a narrow margin and has refused to accept defeat.

"We sincerely believe there was organised corruption and irregularities," Erdogan told party members in parliament on Tuesday, saying the re-run was the "best step" for the country.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has condemned Monday's decision by the top election body to re-run the vote as "neither democratic nor legitimate".

Its candidate, Ekrem Imamoglu, who has been stripped of the mayorship after winning the March 31 election, was meeting coalition partners on Tuesday to discuss their strategy.

The loss of Istanbul, the country's economic hub, had been a shocking defeat for Erdogan's ruling party.

The AKP and its predecessors have ruled the city for 25 years, and it was especially sensitive for Erdogan, who grew up in the metropolis and rose to power after himself serving as Istanbul mayor.

Imamoglu, a softly-spoken former district mayor, gave a rousing speech to thousands of supporters in Istanbul late Monday, vowing they would emerge even stronger after the re-run on June 23.

"Maybe you are upset but never lose your hope," he said, while thousands more took to the streets of the chic Kadikoy district to protest against the election board.

"This is the collapse of the declining democracy in Turkey. The coming process is condemned to be even worse," said 60-year-old shopkeeper Ali Yamac in central Istanbul.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Tuesday that the decision to annul the election was "not transparent and incomprehensible to us".

The European Union has called for the election body to produce its reasons "without delay".

"Ensuring a free, fair and transparent election process is essential to any democracy and is at the heart of the European Union's relations with Turkey," EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement on Monday.

The loss of the mayorship in Istanbul, and a more resounding defeat in the capital Ankara, was a rare setback for Erdogan and his party, reflecting widespread concerns over the deteriorating economy.

The AKP still won the most seats nationwide, but has been damaged by Turkey's first recession in a decade, as well as record-high inflation and a currency that has lost more than 12 percent of its value against the dollar this year alone.

Erdogan's critics say he has eroded rights by cracking down on dissent at home but for his supporters he maintains the image of a strong leader who speaks up for Turkey in the international arena.

The defeated mayoral candidate, former prime minister Binali Yildirim, a close Erdogan ally, said he hoped the re-run would "be beneficial for our city".

The US-based think tank the Soufan Center said the YSK decision marked "serious concerns" for the future of democracy in Turkey.

"Given restrictions on freedom of speech and Turkey's increasingly less independent judiciary, the recent election meddling is a clear signal to the Turkish people, and the world, that Erdogan is willing to pursue absolute power at any cost." </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption Opposition CHP supporters celebrated in Istanbul

The party of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lost control of the capital, Ankara, in local elections, in a blow to his 16-year rule.

The main opposition is also slightly ahead in the contest for mayor of Istanbul, figures published by the state-run Anadolu news agency suggest.

But the president's AKP party is challenging the result in both cities.

Municipal elections were held across the nation on Sunday and an AKP-led alliance won more than 51% of the vote.

The elections, considered a verdict on Mr Erdogan's rule, have been taking place during an economic downturn.

The currency, the lira, has been losing value recently and the economy went into recession in the last three months of 2018.

What has the ruling party been saying?

The AKP - or Justice and Development Party - alleges "invalid votes and irregularities in most of the 12,158 polling stations in Ankara".

Its general secretary, Fatih Sahin, said on Twitter: "We will use our legal rights to the fullest, and we will not allow the will of our citizens to be altered in Ankara."

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Erdogan: "We will appeal wherever needed"

The AKP says it will also challenge the result in Istanbul - the largest city - and the eastern province of Igdir.

Commenting on the results in a speech on Sunday, Mr Erdogan looked ahead to national elections in 2023: "We have a long period ahead where we will carry out economic reforms without compromising on the rules of the free-market economy.

"If there are any shortcomings, it is our duty to correct them," he said.

What are the results?

More than 57 million people in the country were registered to vote for mayors and councillors. Turnout was high at just under 85%.

The opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) candidate Mansur Yavas won in Ankara, officials said. With almost all votes counted, he was on nearly 51% and the AKP's Mehmet Ozhaseki had won the support of just over 47%.

Both CHP and the AKP claim victory in Istanbul, which has been in the hands of parties linked to Mr Erdogan since 1994, when he was elected the city's mayor.

The election commission said the CHP's Ekrem Imamoglu was leading there by less than 0.5%, but that the results of more than 80 ballot boxes were being challenged. Results carried by Anadolu put the margin even narrower, at less than 0.25%.

Image copyright AFP Image caption The CHP's mayoral candidate for Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu has claimed victory by 28,000 votes

The AKP had been saying its candidate, former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, was ahead by 4,000 votes. He later conceded his opponent had a narrow lead, only for the AKP to again claim victory.

The third largest city, Izmir, went to the CHP.

"The people have voted in favour of democracy. They have chosen democracy," CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said.

Image of invincibility broken

Analysis by Mark Lowen, BBC Turkey correspondent

Electoral figures show Istanbul falling to the opposition by a whisker, although the ruling party has challenged the result and refused to concede. Ekrem Imamoglu, who's already changed his Twitter profile to "mayor of Istanbul", has vowed to serve all sides - those who voted for and against him - without discrimination.

President Erdogan's setbacks deepened elsewhere, losing the capital, Ankara, and several other cities as his conservative voters punished him for an economic crisis.

Local elections are important here. Parties build their base at grassroots level; Mr Erdogan himself gained power after being mayor of Istanbul.

He turned this poll into, in effect, a referendum on himself. Now his image of invincibility has been broken and an opposition long seen as hopelessly divided has got a new lease of life. Swathes of Turkey still adore Mr Erdogan, but the half of the country that detests its polarising president are starting to believe he's beatable.

How was the campaign?

This was the first municipal vote since Mr Erdogan assumed sweeping executive powers through last year's presidential election.

The AKP, with its roots in political Islam, has won every election since coming to power in 2002.

Mr Erdogan, whose two-month campaign included 100 rallies, said the poll was about the "survival" of the country and his party.

Image copyright EPA Image caption AKP supporters also celebrated in Istanbul - but Mr Erdogan later hinted that the party may have lost control there

With most media either pro-government or controlled by Mr Erdogan's supporters, critics believe opposition parties campaigned at a disadvantage. Mr Erdogan's rallies dominated TV coverage.

The opposition pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) said the elections were unfair and refused to put forward candidates in several cities.

Some of its leaders have been jailed on terrorism charges, accusations they reject.
Voters head to the polls in Turkey to vote on metropolitan and district municipal mayors along with provincial and municipal councillors. The election is believed to be contested on challenging the current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.