UPDATE - Turkish expats in UK start voting in presidential, parliamentary polls

CHANGES DECK; UPDATES WITH INTERVIEWS OF CITIZENS VOTING IN LONDON; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Aysu Bicer

LONDON (AA) - Turkish expatriates in the UK began began casting ballots on Saturday for Türkiye's upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.

A total of 127,281 registered voters can vote at polling stations set up in London, Manchester, Leicester, and Edinburgh.

The process for Turkish expats in the UK continues for nine days until May 7 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, and deputies in parliament.

As many as 24 political parties and 151 independent candidates are vying for 600 seats in the Turkish parliament.

Türkiye's Ambassador in London Osman Koray Ertas said the mission has been in close cooperation and coordination with British authorities since the beginning of the process, from security to the preservation of the votes.

- 'Whoever deserves it should win'

Fatma Tunc, one of the voters in London, said she has been living in the UK for 40 years. "We love England but we love our Türkiye very much. Today we are here to vote and hope that whoever deserves it should win," she told Anadolu.

Mutluhan Yilmaz, another Turkish citizen staying in London for seven months as a PhD student on scholarship, said he wishes the elections results would be beneficial for Türkiye.

"As it is the first day of voting and start of the weekend, I wanted to come and vote. This place is easy to find, and I had no difficulty," he said, referring to Old Billingsgate in London, where polling booths have been set up.

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

Voting in Greece also started on Saturday at the Athens-Piraeus, Komotini, Rhodes, and Thessaloniki consulates.

In Bulgaria, voting will begin on May 4 at three locations until May 7, while in Georgia, there will be two locations open from May 5-7.

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

Some 3.41 million people are eligible 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 voters in the Netherlands.