Turkish expats start casting votes for presidential runoff

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) — Turkish nationals living abroad started casting their votes at the country's foreign missions and customs gates on Saturday for the second round of Türkiye's presidential election scheduled for May 28.

Voting overseas will continue until May 24. Those who want to vote at the custom gates will be able to cast ballots until May 28.

Voters started to cast their votes at the ballot boxes set up at the Turkish Embassy in Baku and the Turkish consulates in Nakhchivan and Ganja as of 8 a.m. local time.

Also, Turkish voters began to head to the polls in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan on Saturday.

- Europe

In Spain, Turkish nationals started casting their vote at the polling stations in the Turkish diplomatic missions in Madrid and Barcelona.

Polling stations in the country will be closed on Sunday.

In Germany, the country with the highest number of Turkish overseas voters, polling stations will be open between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m local time until Wednesday.

In Aachen and Regensburg, voting started at 9 a.m. and will continue until to 6 p.m. from Saturday to Sunday

Turkish citizens in the Netherlands also started to vote for the second round as of 8 a.m. local time in Amsterdam, the Hague, and Deventer.

Voting in these cities will take place between from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. until Wednesday.

Voters will also be able to vote in Eindhoven between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time from Saturday to Sunday.

In France, voters started casting their ballots for the second round of the presidential election in Paris, Marseille, Strasbourg, Lyon, Nantes, and Bordeaux as of 8 a.m. local time.

Voting in these cities will take place between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. until Wednesday.

Turkish expatriates will also be able to vote in Mulhouse, Clermont-Ferrand, and Orleans from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday-Sunday.

Voting has also started in Greece, Türkiye western neighbor across the Aegean Sea, and will be held every day until Wednesday at 8 a.m.-10 p.m. local time.

Overseas voters in Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, and Belgium started heading to the polls, too.

The polls opened in Stockholm at 8 a.m. to close at 10 p.m. local time from Saturday to Wednesday.

In Switzerland, Turkish nationals will be able to vote at the embassy in Bern and consulates in Zurich and Geneva at 8 a.m.-10 p.m. local time from Saturday to Wednesday.

They will also be able to vote in Helsinki between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. local time until Tuesday.

Also, some 153,443 registered voters in Belgium will cast their ballots at 8 a.m.-10 p.m. local time on Saturday-Wednesday.

Voting in Poland and Romania will be held between the same hours but will be limited to the weekend.

In Lithuania, 795 eligible voters also started turning up at polling stations in the Turkish Embassy in Vilnius.

Voting will end on Sunday at 10 p.m. local time.

Turkish nationals in Ireland also started casting their ballots on Saturday for the election.

Polling booths have been set up at the embassy in the capital Dublin, and voting will continue until May 22, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time.

- Western Balkans

Turkish voters also started casting their ballots in the Western Balkans, including Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Polling stations were opened in Türkiye's Embassy in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, as well as the consulates in Mostar and Banja Luka.

In Montenegro, they will be open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time from Saturday to Sunday.

- Middle East

Turkish expats in Middle East started casting their ballots for the runoff elections as well.

Voting in Jordan and Lebanon will be held at 8 a.m.-10 p.m. local time over the weekend.

Approximately 3,000 Turkish voters are registered in Jordan.

In Lebanon, turnout was at around 35% in the first round of the election earlier this month.

Turkish nationals living in Israel began voting for the second round at the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv and will end at 10 p.m. local time on Monday.

- US, Canada, Asia Pacific

Across the US and Canada, meanwhile, overseas Turkish voters will start heading to the polls at 8 a.m. local time (1500-1200GMT).

Polling stations have been set up at US diplomatic missions, including the Turkish Embassy in Washington, and consulates in New York, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Miami, and Los Angeles.

Across Canada, voting will begin at 8 a.m. local time, while polling stations at the Turkish Embassy in Ottawa, and consulates in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver will close as of 10 p.m. local time on Wednesday.

Voters in Australia also started heading to the polls on Saturday.

In Japan, Turkish expats already started voting in Tokyo and Nagoya at 8 a.m., with polling stations to remain open until 10 p.m. local time on Saturday to Sunday.

More than 1,200 Turkish nationals began voting in Pakistan, too. Polling stations were set up in the embassy and consulate generals in Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi.

Voting will be held from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday-Sunday.

Ballot boxes will be set up at 167 points by Türkiye's 151 representatives in 73 countries for the election.

Voting overseas will continue until May 24. Those who want to vote at the custom gates will be able to cast a ballot until May 28.

Millions of voters went to the polls on May 14 to elect the country's president and members of its 600-seat parliament.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s People’s Alliance won a majority in parliament, while the presidential race is headed to a second round on May 28.

In the first round held on May 14, no candidate won an outright majority, although Erdogan was leading.

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.