The opposition's mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavas of the Republican People's Party (CHP), has so far received over 60% of the votes in the ongoing local elections, as confirmed by Turkish news media on Monday.

Preliminary data shows that the CHP is ahead of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the local elections for the first time in 20 years.

As of Monday morning, 99.81% of the polling stations' votes have been processed, the Hurriyet newspaper reported, as state-run news agency Anadolu also said that Yavas received 60.35% of the votes, and his AKP opponent, Turgut Altinok, garnered 31.69%.

This shows that the opposition mayors of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir maintained their posts. 

Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, addressing supporters at his party's headquarters in Ankara, acknowledged a "turning point" for his party and promised to respect the results.

With 96% of ballot boxes opened, Istanbul's CHP mayor Ekrem Imamoglu said he had led the local vote against Erdogan's candidate by more than one million votes. "We have won the election," he declared.

Imamoglu, 52, is increasingly seen as the biggest rival to Erdogan's AKP ahead of the next presidential election in 2028.

Erdogan acknowledges loss

The CHP was also ahead in Izmir, Turkey's third largest city, and Antalya where party supporters flooded onto the streets. Results even indicated that some AKP stronghold towns were at risk of being won over by the CHP.

"Voters have chosen to change the face of Turkey," said CHP chairman Ozgur Ozel as the results emerged. "They want to open the door to a new political climate in our country."

Erdogan acknowledged the electoral loss in a speech to supporters at the headquarters of his party.

"Unfortunately, we have not obtained the results that we wanted," he said.

"We will of course respect the decision of the nation. We will avoid being stubborn, acting against the national will and questioning the power of the nation," he added.

This local election goes much deeper than it seems and serves a fateful purpose for Erdogan, because at the moment he doesn't have enough parliamentary seats to enact a new constitution that would allow him to run for a third term after 2028.