Bulgarians in Türkiye with dual citizenship to vote for weekend snap election

By Cihan Demirci

EDIRNE, Türkiye (AA) - Bulgarians in Türkiye with dual citizenship will vote for Sunday's snap election in Bulgaria.

"We encourage citizens to cast their vote, which is their legal and democratic right. We want them to come to the ballot boxes and exercise their rights by voting," Cevat Gunes, head of the Culture and Solidarity Association for Thrace and Balkan Turks, told Anadolu Agency.

Gunes said in the previous Bulgarian election, nearly 10,000 dual citizens cast their votes in ballot boxes set up in Thrace, the Turkish region bordering Greece.

This figure may swell to 120,000 in the next elections thanks to the efforts by the local associations to increase voter turnout, Gunes added.

Electronic voting machines will be used at the ballot boxes which will be set up in northwestern Edirne province for the first time this year.

A total of 28 ballot boxes will be set up in Thrace, including three in Edirne, seven in Kirklareli and 18 in Tekirdag provinces.

Bulgaria is set to hold snap elections on Oct. 2, as the third and final attempt to form a government in the country has failed.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which on July 18 was given a mandate to form a government, officially returned it to President Rumen Radev.

The elections will be the fourth in two years for the country, which has been marred by political instability since Prime Minister Kiril Petkov’s government was toppled in a no-confidence vote in June.

* Writing by Zehra Nur Duz