The vote is a barometer of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s popularity as he seeks to win back control of key urban areas he lost to the opposition five years ago
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00:00 Voters in Turkey are preparing to cast their ballots for new mayors and administrators
00:06 on Sunday.
00:07 The local elections are expected to gauge public sentiment around President Recep Tayyip
00:12 Erdogan's popularity as his ruling party tries to win back key cities lost five years ago.
00:19 Istanbul is the cherry because it hosts about one quarter of Turkish population. It's something
00:27 about 20 million people. We are talking unofficially. The number of refugees living in Istanbul
00:34 is greater than the refugees living in the Netherlands or any other country. It's huge.
00:39 Secondly, it has a huge budget. Because the metropolitan government has a budget, but
00:46 metropolitan government has some private, some institutions, some companies. They have
00:54 also budget. It means that we are estimating that they have, they can control about 10
00:59 to 15 billion dollars.
01:01 The opposition is tipped to retain its hold on the capital Ankara, with polls predicting
01:06 a tight race in Istanbul.
01:08 [SWOOSH]