Turkish opposition leads Erdogan's AK Party in Ankara mayor race

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey’s main opposition party appeared on course to seize control of Ankara in Sunday’s local elections and defeat President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party in the capital for the first time since Erdogan came to power 16 years ago.

After three-quarters of ballot boxes were opened, secularist opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) mayoral candidate Mansur Yavas had 49.8 percent of the vote, 2.0 percentage points ahead of his AKP rival.

While the AK Party looked set to hold Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, defeat in Ankara would be a major setback for Erdogan who campaigned relentlessly for two months ahead of a vote which he described as a “matter of survival” for Turkey.

Erdogan has dominated Turkish politics for more than 16 years thanks mainly to strong economic growth and support from a core constituency of pious, conservative Muslim Turks.

A consummate campaigner, he has been the country’s most popular - though also divisive - modern politician, tightening his hold on power in elections last year which ushered in a new executive presidency, approved in a bitterly fought 2017 referendum.

However, a currency crisis after last year’s election dragged the lira down by 30 percent and tipped the economy toward recession. With inflation close to 20 percent and unemployment rising, some voters appeared ready to punish the president.

“I was actually not going to vote today, but when I saw how much they (AKP) were flailing, I thought this might be time to land them a blow. Everyone is unhappy. Everyone is struggling,” said 47-year-old Hakan after voting in Ankara.

As authorities again scrambled to shore up the lira over the last week, Erdogan cast the country’s economic woes as resulting from attacks by the West, saying Turkey would overcome its troubles and adding he was “the boss” of the economy.

“The aim behind the increasing attacks toward our country ahead of the elections is to block the road of the big, strong Turkey,” Erdogan told a rally in Istanbul on Saturday.

In Istanbul, AKP candidate and former prime minister Binali Yildirim had 49.7 percent of votes, 1.9 percentage points ahead of his CHP rival, after just under 90 percent of ballot boxes were opened, broadcaster NTV said.

VIOLENCE MARS VOTING

The election was marred by violence in the southeast and Istanbul.

Two members of the small Islamist Felicity Party, a polling station official and an election observer, were shot dead in Malatya province, a party spokesman said.

In the main southeastern city of Diyarbakir, two people were hurt, one of them critically, after being stabbed in a dispute between candidates, a hospital source said. Dozens of people were hurt in other election-related clashes in the southeast, media reported.

One person was stabbed as 15 people clashed in a row between candidates in Istanbul’s Kadikoy district, a police source said.

Ahead of the vote, the CHP and Iyi (Good) Party formed an electoral alliance to rival that of the AKP and its nationalist MHP partners.

The pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), which Erdogan has accused of links to Kurdish militants, did not field candidates for mayor in Istanbul or Ankara, which was likely to benefit the CHP.

The HDP denies links to the outlawed militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Two years ago, the state took control of about 100 municipalities from an HDP-affiliated party and some voters in Diyarbakir said services there had improved as a result.

In the days leading up to the vote, Erdogan held around 100 rallies across the country. He blasted his rivals as terrorist supporters and warned that if the opposition candidate wins in Ankara, residents would “pay a price”.

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