municipal elections last weekend but the ruling party is protesting istanbul holds special significance for the turkish president as where his rise to power began. julia on reports. the bags in this gym contain thousands of ballots cast in sunday s local elections in istanbul. mahmoud a politician with the opposition c.h.p. has spent days here to keep a watchful eye on that big group. argument why do we keep watch to prevent everyone s party from replacing the voting bugs because it s done before we have a lengthy record of this we have a sole purpose for securing people s rights and making sure no one is cheated we will not or anyone to do this. for president reagan tired out one last weekend s election was one of his heaviest setbacks in his islamic rooted a k.