FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The voting process for local elections in Turkey has ended. Polling stations across Turkey were closed after voting for local elections ended at 5pm local time.
Candidates from 34 political parties contested the election, with over 206,000 polling stations set up across the country. Voters living in Turkey's largest cities cast their ballots for the metropolitan mayor, mayor, city council members, and alderman councils.
The main battlegrounds are the country's economic center, Istanbul, and the capital, Ankara, which Erdogan lost in 2019.
For the opposition - divided and demoralized after a defeat in last year's presidential and parliamentary elections - holding Istanbul and Ankara would be a major boost and help remobilize supporters.
Erdogan said he hoped the elections would herald the beginning of a new era and a new century. Turkey marked the centenary of the founding of the republic last year.
About 61 million citizens turned to the ballot boxes, where more than 1 million of them were voters for the first time. Some 594,000 security personnel were on duty across the country to ensure that voting went smoothly.
However, one person was killed and eleven others were injured in the city of Diyarbakir, where a dispute turned into violent conflict.
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