Communist Party of Turkey’s (TKP) candidate Fatih Mehmet Maçoğlu won the Dersim municipality, which makes the city the first to be governed by communists in the history of Turkey.

The total number of electors in Dersim, located in the Tunceli province in the eastern part of the country, is 56,943, of a total population of over 86,000. According to the unofficial reports, Maçoğlu won by 32.41 percent, followed by the HDP, CHP, and AKP - President Erdogan’s party - with 27.97, 20.95, and 14.76 percent, respectively.

"We will demonstrate to the whole country that a socialist model is possible," the “communist mayor”, as he is known, said to the Turkish newspaper SoL. Maçoğlu was previously the mayor of Ovacık.

There he gained popularity for fiscal transparency and implementing a cooperative agricultural production model in Ovacik and neighboring districts. Through this initiative, the municipality also provided agricultural subsidies, including seeds and gas oil, and purchase guarantee.

"We will expand the production and administration system we started in Ovacık”, said Maçoğlum adding that the municipality will be administered with the people with an “open door” policy.

DERSİM HALKI KAZANDI.... https://t.co/yMpEHwbWkV — Fatih Mehmet Maçoğlu (@FatihMacoglu) 31 de marzo de 2019 The people of Dersim won!



According to the Turkish Statistical Institution (TUIK), Dersim was ranked as the top city in the quality of life index in 2016 and is among the top-ranking cities with the most educated/literate population.

Sunday's elections, in which Turks vote for mayors and other local officials across the country, are the first since Tayyip Erdogan assumed the presidency last year after the country changed its government system to a presidential one. Official results are expected at midnight.

Erdogan and his party have been in power for more than 16 years but he could be dealt a large electoral blow with official figures indicating his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) may lose control of the capital Ankara, and even Istanbul, the country's largest city. This is partly due to a burgeoning economic crisis in the country.