Turkish expats in UK start voting in presidential, parliamentary polls

By Aysu Bicer

LONDON (AA) - Turkish expatriates in the UK will begin casting ballots Saturday for the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.

A total of 127,281 registered voters will be able to cast votes at polling stations in London, Manchester, Leicester, and Edinburgh.

Voters will cast votes in London at Old Billingsgate for nine days from April 29 to May 7 and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time.

They will choose between four presidential hopefuls: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is seeking reelection, Muharrem Ince, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, and Sinan Ogan.

In addition, 24 political parties and 151 independent candidates are vying for 600 seats in the Turkish parliament.

Turks in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, and Luxembourg began casting ballots Thursday for the May 14 elections.

Voting in Greece is also taking place Saturday at the Athens-Piraeus, Komotini, Rhodes, and Thessaloniki consulates.

In Bulgaria, voting will begin May 4 at three locations. In Georgia, there will be two locations open on May 5.

At customs gates, voting will end May 14, while at most foreign polling places, it will end May 9, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Some 3.41 million people are expected to cast votes abroad, including nearly 278,000 first-time voters.

Germany has the highest number of Turkish voters with 1.5 million, while France has more than 397,000. There are nearly 287,000 in the Netherlands, according to official figures.