President Erdogan casts ballot in Turkey’s local polls

By Hanife Sevinc, Cigdem Alyanak, Huseyin Kulaoglu and Andac Hongur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cast his ballot in Istanbul in Sunday's local elections.

Speaking to reporters after casting his vote, Erdogan expressed hope for high turnout in ballot boxes.

He said the voting process is continuing smoothly across Turkey.

Erdogan will start to follow the election results in Istanbul, and after addressing a news conference there, he will head to the capital Ankara, the president said.

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).