Erdogan's AKP leads Turkey's local polls

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:08:10 GMT | PressTV

Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the polls

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party is leading local elections as poll counting is still going on.

With 50 percent of the Sunday votes counted so far, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) ranked first, garnering almost 40 percent of the ballots, AFP reported.

The Republican People's Party (CHP) is following AKP with 20.2 percent and the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) is in third place with 16.7 votes.

The election is to choose about 93,000 local representatives in the country's 81 provinces.

Some 48 million people were eligible in Sunday's elections, which turned violent, leaving at least six people dead and nearly 100 others wounded in five different provinces.

Recent polls have predicted that the AKP would keep the control of the capital Ankara and the important city of Istanbul.

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been in power since 2002.

Erdogan's party secured more than 41 percent in the last local polls in 2004 and followed it up with a 46.6 percent win in Turkey's parliament elections in 2007.