Turkey local elections: A setback for Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party led Sunday's mayoral elections but suffered setbacks as the opposition regained hold of the capital Ankara and made significant inroads in other parts of Turkey. The election came amid an economic downturn and was widely seen as a referendum on his leadership.

Istanbul: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suffered a blow in local elections with his party loosing control of the capital Ankara. Apart from this, his party AKP and the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) said that they have both won Istanbul's mayoral elections by just a small margin.

The secularist Republican People's Party (CHP) candidate Mansur Yavas has won in Ankara. He won control of Ankara after 25 years of rule by the AKP and a predecessor party.

In Istanbul CHP candidate Ekrem Imamoglu said that he had won by nearly 28,000 votes while the AKP said its candidate former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, had won by a margin of 4,000 votes.

Speaking at a news conference in Istanbul on Sunday, Erdogan said that his party has lost control in a number of cities, and pledged that he would focus on carrying out economic reforms.

The elections, which the Turkish strongman had depicted as a fight for the country's survival, were largely seen as a test of his support amid a sharp economic downturn.