Erdogan, who is aware of his potential weakness and was previously the mayor of Istanbul, has campaigned across Turkey every day though he is not on the ballot.
Since the previous local elections in 2014, Turkish citizens have gone to the polls in five different elections.
In Malatya province in Eastern Anatolia, a polling station volunteer and a party observer from the small Islamist Felicity Party (SP) were killed.
The outcome of the mayoral race for Istanbul remained uncertain on Sunday night with just a few thousand votes separating the two leading candidates, and both the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the main opposition party claiming victory.
Voters across Turkey have begun casting their ballots in local elections that are being viewed as a crucial test for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as the country's economic woes bite into his popular support.
Erdogan had targeted Istanbul heavily in the final two days of campaigning, speaking at rallies throughout Friday and Saturday amid fears that the AKP could lose control of a city where he built his political reputation as mayor in the 1990s. Media reports said one person had been detained. However, it strategically sat out critical mayoral races in major cities, including Istanbul and Ankara, with the aim of sending votes to a rival secular opposition party to help challenge Erdogan's party.
In order to increase the chances of winning the election, Erdogan's ruling AKP continued its recent electoral partnership with the ultra-nationalist MHP, together consolidating most of the right-wing votes under what they call the "People Alliance".
Four U.S. senators on Thursday introduced a bipartisan bill to prohibit the transfer of F-35s to Turkey until the U.S. government certifies that Ankara will not take delivery of a the S-400 system.
Male contraceptive pill is 'safe' and maintains libido, trial shows
Of the 30 men on drugs, four to six men in each group showed mild side effects like fatigue, acne or headache. However, researchers say it will be some time before a drug like 11-beta-MNTDC will be available to men.
After voting in Istanbul, Erdogan said the incident had "upset" him and that an official investigation had been launched.
Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has fielded candidates in the Kurdish provinces where it traditionally gets the most votes in a bid to reclaim over 100 municipalities the Ankara government seized since 2016.
When Yildirim spoke, the state-run news agency showed 98.8 percent of votes tallied, and then stopped reporting updated results for Istanbul after he declared victory.
"I voted for the AKP for continuity and so that their services continue", the homemaker said.
He has described the elections as an existential choice for Turkey, blasting his rivals as terrorist supporters aiming to topple the country. "We're electing mayors. What does this have anything to do with the country's survival?" Kilicdaroglu told a rally in Eskisehir.
Looking to galvanize his base among conservative Turks, the president cast the election as a matter of survival, attacking opposition candidates by branding them as linked to PKK Kurdish militants.
The day before the elections that take place on 31 March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara meant to solve the Syrian issue "on the field", commenting on the possibility of a new operation against Kurdish militants in northern Syria.
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