Spotlight: Turkey to hold local polls amid ailing economy

ANKARA, March 23 (Xinhua) -- In about a week, Turks will go to the polls to elect their local governments amid an economic recession which is not expected to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's popularity.

Turkey's 57 million registered voters will elect mayors for 81 provincial capitals and 957 towns. Depending on the area, the voters will be asked to choose mayors and municipal councilors as well as district leaders.

Normally, mayoral elections are a routine and do not draw such political enthusiasm and polarization because they are organized regularly to decide who will run cities, towns and villages, but not to select national decision makers.

Erdogan has repeatedly said that the local elections are an "issue of national survival" for Turkey after a series of deadly bombing attacks occurred in big cities in 2015 and a failed military coup happened against him.

The 65-year-old Turkish leader strengthened his presidential powers in a very divisive election last June, after which the NATO nation switched from a parliamentary system to an executive style presidency.

In this election, the struggle is between coalitions: Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) that have formed the People's Alliance, and the opposition parties led by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which have put together the Nation Alliance.

Recent polls suggested that the AKP will win the elections but several big cities, such as capital Ankara, lie in the balance amid a first recession in 10 years coupled with 20 percent inflation and a staggering 13.5 percent unemployment.

"We have total confidence in our Reis (leader) ," an affectionate term used by loyal supporters of Erdogan, said Mufit Elmas, the owner of a cell phone store in a bustling street of Kizilay.

"There's no reason not to believe in him. We Turks should stand united against enemies within our state and abroad," he said, referring to Erdogan's narrative accusing his political opponents of colliding with terrorist outfits.

"Turkey has economic difficulties nowadays, but God willing, it will pass," added he, showing a picture of Erdogan hanged behind the cash register along with the Turkish flag.

A middle-aged women customer said that households are suffering from repeated price hikes of essential goods and that voters are not that interested in elections, trying to "run after their daily bread."

Polls also indicated that the economic woes will decide voters' choices and that there is a large group of undecided and uninterested weary voters as Turks had went to the polls three times already since 2015 for general and presidential elections.

"Municipal elections are seen as the final leg of a five-year long election campaign before a four-year pause to twin polls in 2023 to select the president and members of parliament," Serkan Demirtas, a political analyst and journalist, told Xinhua.

The aim of Erdogan's political alliance is to "win all metropolis and big constituencies and to preserve around 50 percent of votes so that a confidence vote would be secured" for the ruling AKP, he added.

But Demirtas also argued as some other analysts that if the AKP loses Istanbul, Turkey's largest city and economic capital, it would be a serious psychological blow for Erdogan who has never lost an election.

However, the opposition seems unlikely to take Istanbul from the AKP, the historic city where Erdogan rose to power when he was elected mayor 25 years ago.

In Ankara, where the AKP is believed to be lost, Erdogan has hinted that he will not let the candidate of the opposition serve his mandate if he's elected because of claims of fraud raised against him by a business rival, a move that would be unprecedented and controversial. Enditem