Iran Press/Asia: Speaking to reporters after casting his vote, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed hope for a high turnout in the local elections.
He said the voting process is continuing smoothly across Turkey, Anadolu Agency noted.
Erdogan will start to follow the election results in Istanbul, and after addressing a news conference there, he will head to the capital Ankara.
Sunday’s polls mark the first local elections in Turkey under the new presidential government system, adopted in an April 2017 referendum.
Voting started at 7 a.m. local time (0400GMT) and will continue through 4 p.m. local time (1300GMT) in 32 out of Turkey’s 81 provinces.
In the remaining provinces, polling stations have opened at 8 a.m. local time (0050GMT) and will close at 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT).
Turks have been voting to elect scores of mayors, municipal councils, and other local officials since early Sunday.
Some 57 million people are eligible to vote, and preliminary results could be available as early as Sunday night.
Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) have won every election since the party first came to power in 2002. The head of the Turkish state celebrated a major win in April 2017, when the public voted in a referendum in favor of the adoption of a presidential system that expanded his powers.
Sunday's local elections are the first since the system was adopted. The results could approximately show how much support the Turks still have for an executive presidency headed by Erdogan.105/211/201
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