Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Polls opened Sunday in Turkey for municipal elections that are seen as a referendum on the rule of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has faced anti-government protests and a major corruption scandal.

More than 50 million people are eligible for voting at almost 200,000 polling stations, according to Turkey’s Higher Election Board.

Voters will cast their ballots for mayors and local assemblies amid security concerns raised from both the government and the opposition.

Sunday’s elections are widely regarded as a referendum on Erdogan’s rule and his Islamist-rooted AK Party.

Erdogan has been crisscrossing the nation of 77 million during weeks of hectic campaigning to rally his conservative core voters.

Since anti-graft raids in December, Erdogan has purged some 7,000 people from the judiciary and police targeting businessmen close to Erdogan and sons of ministers.

He blames the probe on a secretive Islamic cleric, a former ally, who he says is using supporters in the police to try to topple the government.

The AK Party, which swept to power in 2002 on a platform of eradicating the graft that blights Turkish life, hopes on Sunday to equal or better its overall 2009 vote of 38.8 percent and markets have steadied this week in expectation of such a result.

A vote of less than 36 percent, not considered likely, would be a huge blow for Erdogan and unleash AKP power struggles. A vote of more than 45 percent, some fear, could herald a period of harsh reckoning with opponents in politics and state bodies.

*Agencies