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Millions of Turks vote in elections on Sunday to decide who runs their biggest cities - and whether President Recep Tayyip Erdogan can wrest back control from the opposition, BBC News reports.

Turkey's economic and social powerhouse, Istanbul, was won by a united opposition five years ago under popular mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, shattering the president's long run of electoral success.

Now Mr Erdogan, who was born in this megacity of 16 million people, wants it back and the vote is on a knife-edge.

Whatever happens in Istanbul is being seen as a crucial test of whether the opposition can pose a serious threat to Mr Erdogan and his AK Party in the next presidential elections in four years' time.

"Istanbul is his home. Losing Istanbul to the opposition in the 2019 local elections was devastating for him," says Ihsan Aktas of the department of communication at Istanbul Medipol University and chair of the Genar Political Research Centre.

Istanbul was where he grew up, selling sesame bread snacks called Simits before going into politics in the 1970s.

He headed an Islamist party's youth branch in the district of Beyogluthen, and rose through the ranks to become mayor, prime minister and ultimately president of Turkey.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan secured a third term in presidential elections last year, but in this latest vote the main opposition party, the secular CHP, is hoping to hold on to big cities that it won back in dramatic fashion five years ago. Not just Istanbul, but the capital Ankara and the tourist city of Antalya.

Until 2019, the ruling AK Party and its Islamist predecessors had run the two biggest cities for 25 years.

In Istanbul the opposition even defeated his candidate twice, as the AKP alleged there had been irregularities and officials ordered a re-run.

"Although the opposition lost against Erdogan in last year's presidential election, there is still a strong link between winning Istanbul and winning Turkey," says Seda Demiralp, professor of political science at the city's Isik University.

"If Imamoglu manages to keep Istanbul, the opposition will still have high hopes for the upcoming 2028 presidential elections."

Ihsan Aktas agrees that whoever wins will have enormous influence beyond Istanbul: "When you have the backing of Istanbul, you directly become an actor in the national politics. And globally too."

The city hosts a fifth of Turkey's population of nearly 85 million people, and it has a diverse electorate from different political, ethnic, religious and economic backgrounds.

Control Istanbul and you control a significant portion of Turkey's economy including trade, tourism and finance.

The candidate chosen to run for Mr Erdogan's party in Istanbul is Murat Kurum, a 47-year-old former minister for the environment and urbanisation. But it may as well be a race between Ekrem Imamoglu and Mr Erdogan.

A former businessman, 52-year-old Mr Imamoglu rose to prominence as mayor of the city's little-known middle-class district of Beylikduzu and he is viewed as President Erdogan's biggest challenger in decades.

"In 2019 we closed a chapter, and on 31 March, [the AKP] will be history," he told supporters at a rally in Beylikduzu.

Another victory would bolster his political clout and pave the way for him to run for the presidency in four years' time, political commentators say.

The mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavas, has also been tipped to run in 2028 and his route to victory on Sunday is seen as more secure.

For now Ekrem Imamoglu is keeping his sights on his current job.