Turkish voters hit the polls to select mayors across the country on Sunday. Although the elections were municipal, they are widely seen as a referendum on the administration of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who took office in 2003, and his conservative, Islamist party Justice and Development Party (AKP).

In Istanbul — Turkey's economic and cultural center, and where a fifth of the country's population resides — the race is particularly important. Incumbent mayor, AKP's Kadir Topbas, faces a stronger-than-ever opposition candidate Mustafa Sarigul of Republican People's Party (CHP), a secular, semi-nationalist party that champions the legacy of Turkey's first president Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Polling stations were busy, with long lines of voters waiting to cast ballots in some locations.

Erdoğan was also once mayor of Istanbul, and rode that political momentum all the way to the prime minister’s office. This past year, he has faced the biggest challenges of his tenure, with a nation-wide protest movement that sprung from Istanbul's Gezi Park last summer, and more recently, a corruption investigation and wire-tap scandal that could implicate Turkey’s top business and political families.

Memories of Gezi Park and massive street protests briefly returned on March 11, when 15-year-old Berkin Elvan died. The teenager had been out to buy bread when was hit in the head by a tear-gas canister in his neighborhood of Okmeydani, a strong opposition quarter, during the Gezi Park turmoil.

Earlier this month, the Turkish government blocked Twitter and YouTube, and reportedly thwarted attempts to access such sites after most Turkish Internet Service Providers replaced Google's Domain Name Service.

Turkey Elections

1. Ballots at a polling place in Okmeydani district, Istanbul, Turkey, March 30, 2014. Okmeydani is traditionally an opposition neighborhood. Turkish voters went to the polls to elect local leaders across the country in municipal elections. The mayoral votes are widely seen as a referendum on the decade-long administration of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP). Erdogan himself was once mayor of Istanbul, a key race in this election.

   Image: Holly Pickett

2. A voter submits his ballot in Okmeydani district, Istanbul, Turkey, March 30, 2014.

   Image: Holly Pickett

3. A voter walks away from the voting booths in Okmeydani district, Istanbul, Turkey, March 30, 2014.

   Image: Holly Pickett

4. Voters waited outside a polling room in Okmeydani district, Istanbul, Turkey, March 30, 2014.

   Image: Holly Pickett

5. Voters entered a polling place in a school in Okmeydani district, Istanbul, Turkey, March 30, 2014.

   Image: Holly Pickett

6. A man walked by political posters and symbols on a wall in Okmeydani district, Istanbul, Turkey, March 30, 2014.

   Image: Holly Pickett

7. A woman looked over a police cordon hoping to spot Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Uskudar, Istanbul, Turkey, March 30, 2014.

   Image: Holly Pickett

8. A voter signs next to his name at a polling station in Uskudar, Istanbul, Turkey, March 30, 2014.

   Image: Holly Pickett

9. A school used as a polling place, Kasimpasa district, Istanbul, Turkey, March 30, 2014.

   Image: Holly Pickett

10. Election workers carried tea for the judges and observers working inside the polling place, Kasimpasa district, Istanbul, Turkey, March 30, 2014.

    Image: Holly Pickett

11. A young woman left a polling place in Kasimpasa district, Istanbul, Turkey, March 30, 2014.

    Image: Holly Pickett

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