ISTANBUL, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Voters flocked to the polls on Sunday in Istanbul, Türkiye's financial and cultural hub, for the country's local elections.

A total of 33,228 ballot boxes were established across the city's 39 districts for its 11.3 million eligible voters.

Ercument Capan, a poll watcher in the bustling Besiktas district on the European side, said there was a one-third turnout in his polling station until 1 p.m.

The race is anticipated to be tightly contested between Ekrem Imamoglu, the incumbent mayor from the Republican People's Party (CHP), and Murat Kurum, the candidate nominated by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Imamoglu and Kurum arrived to vote accompanied by their families in separate polling stations in the city.

"Today, my family -- my wife, my two sons, and I -- exercised our right to vote," Imamoglu told reporters. "Voting is a sacred privilege of citizens in a democracy, and this right must be safeguarded from the moment it is cast into the ballot box."

Kurum, meanwhile, said, Türkiye is poised to experience a grand feast of democracy. "We are on the brink of making a profoundly significant decision for the future of Istanbul, for the future of our children."

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also cast his vote at a school in the Uskudar district on the Asian side. "I hope favorable outcomes will emerge for our country and our nation from the local government elections," Erdogan told reporters.

In the 2019 local elections, the AKP encountered a significant setback in Istanbul, ceding control of the municipality to the CHP for the first time in 25 years.

The voting will be over at 5 p.m. in Istanbul, where a total of 49 candidates vie for the mayor of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Enditem

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