VIOLENCE, allegations of fraud and a range of other violations marked today’s crunch local elections in Turkey as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared set to be given a bloody nose in the polls.

In one of the early results it appeared that Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) candidate Fatih Mehmet Macoglu was set to become Mayor of Dersim, leading the vote with 80 per cent of the boxes opened.

National turnout was high at just over 82 per cent however a heavy military presence, particularly in the largely Kurdish south-east, oversaw alleged fraud, including double-voting.

Police used pepper spray on People’s Democratic Party (HDP)  supporters after relatives of Justice and Development Party (AKP) MP for Urfa Halil Ozsavli arrived armed with Kalashnikovs to attack them at a local school.

In Van province police attacked and occupied a polling station in the Yesilova district of Ercis, a People’s Democratic Party (HDP) stronghold where supporters of Mr Erdogan threatened voters.

In Urfa province, police were seen entering polling stations and voting despite offering no identification amid allegations voters were brought to the area in police vehicles from Mersin, Adana, Antalya and Konya.

Reports from across the south-east suggested authorities were blocking HDP supporters from voting. 

In Mardin it is alleged that votes in favour of the HDP were destroyed, with photographs circulating online of torn ballot papers.

However it appeared the HDP was on course to take back the municipalities stolen in administrative coups after the replacement of elected mayors with pro-Erdogan trustees.

HDP spokesman Hisyar Ozsoy warned of violations and pressures “to paralyse the HDP organisationally, and render the playing field even more uneven” in the run-up to today’s poll.

On Saturday, just one day before the elections, 53 people were detained in Istanbul in 127 house raids by the police, the majority of whom were HDP candidates for municipal councils in Istanbul and its districts. 

In total, during the election campaign, at least 713 HDP administrators and members were detained and 107 of them arrested. 

More than 6,000 HDP administrators and members have been arrested since 2016 – its co-chairs, tens of members of parliament and elected mayors among them.

Mr Ozsoy explained at least 12 international election observers had been detained and deported from the country, deemed to be a “threat to national security.”

Arrests are anticipated today (Mon) as Mr Erdogan vowed to remove all those with links to terrorists from office, widely interpreted as aimed at HDP candidates.