Voting has began across Türkiye to elect city mayors, district mayors, and other local officials who will serve for the next five years, including in the hotly-contested cities of Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir. Voting started at 7 am local time on Sunday and will continue through 4 pm in 32 eastern provinces, and in the remaining provinces, polling stations opened at 8 am and close at 5 pm. More than 61 million voters nationwide are eligible to cast their votes at over 200,000 polling stations with candidates from 34 political parties competing. Voters can only vote for candidates for office in their districts. The major competing parties are the governing Justice and Development (AK) Party, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the Good (IYI) Party, and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (DEM Party). For updates: http://trt.world/vd16