Violent feuds broke out Sunday in Turkish local elections for village and neighborhood leaders, leaving eight people dead and 13 wounded, media reports said.

Violent feuds broke out Sunday in Turkish local elections for village and neighborhood leaders, leaving eight people dead and 13 wounded, media reports said.

At least six people died and four were wounded in the village of Yuvacik, Sanliurfa province, in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast, the Dogan news agency said.

Rival families fought with clubs, knives and guns in a battle over their respective candidates in the southern city of Hatay where two people died and nine were injured, Dogan said.

More than 52 million voters nationwide were eligible to cast their ballots in Sunday's local polls, also electing city mayors and provincial assembly members in the country's 81 provinces.

The city and province level votes are seen as a key popularity test for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government has been dogged by mass street protests and a vast corruption scandal.