Over 1.89M expats vote in Türkiye’s presidential runoff election

By Fatma Sevinc Cetin and Neriman Senanur Torun

ANKARA (AA) – Over 1.89 million Turkish nationals have cast their votes abroad so far in the second round of Türkiye's presidential election scheduled for May 28.

Voting at diplomatic missions ended on Wednesday, while the polling will continue at customs gates until 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Sunday.

According to Türkiye's Supreme Election Council, more than 1.89 million people – 1,895,430 – cast their votes at Türkiye's foreign missions and customs gates as of 10 a.m. local time (0700GMT) on Thursday.

In the May 14 elections, a total of 1,839,470 Turkish citizens abroad went polls to vote in both presidential and parliamentary elections.

The number of voters in the presidential runoff has increased by 55,960 so far.

Those who are unable to cast their ballots within dedicated time in their country of residence will be able to vote at the customs gates until 5 p.m. Sunday.

In the first round of elections, Turkish nationals abroad cast their votes at the country's foreign representative offices between April 27 and May 9, and at the customs gates until May 14.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's People's Alliance won a majority in parliament, while the presidential race headed to the second round as no candidate obtained simple majority, or more than 50% of the votes. Erdogan, however, led with 49.52%.

Erdogan will face Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and joint candidate for the six-party opposition Nation Alliance, in the runoff vote.​​​​​​​

*Writing by Gozde Bayar