In one incident, a gun fight broke out between two families on Sunday in the village of Yuvacik in Sanliurfa province near the Syrian border, killing at least six and wounding four others, local media outlets reported.

In another incident, rival families fought with clubs, knives and guns in a battle over their respective candidates in the village of Golbasi in the southern Hatay province, also bordering Syria, killing two more people and injuring nine, press reports added.

According to the reports, such clashes have occurred in previous elections as well.

The report further noted that none of the feuding candidate in the two villages were party-affiliated.

Over 52 million voters throughout Turkey are eligible to cast their ballots in Sunday’s local polls to elect village and neighborhood leaders, as well as city mayors and provincial assembly members in the country’s 81 provinces.

The elections, which has turned into a referendum on the continued leadership of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, whose administration has been dogged by mass street protests and a major corruption scandal. 

In days leading up to the election, Erdogan further faced a stream of damaging security leaks, indicating that his administration was discussing plans to wage a military attack on neighboring Syria.

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