Turks abroad head to ballot centers for presidential election runoff
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – Turkish nationals, residing abroad, began on Saturday heading to ballot centers for a runoff for the Turkish presidential elections to cast their votes either for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, current Turkish president, or his challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
The runoff election will be held in Turkey on May 28 following failure of both Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu to hit the 50% threshold needed to win the presidential vote outright on May 14.
The Turkish Supreme Election Council (YSK) noted that 167 ballot centers were opened in 73 countries around the world.
Some 3.4 million Turks are eligible to vote abroad, out of a total electorate of more than 64 million, and will cast their votes from May 20 to 24.
As for the runoff at home [Turkey], it will start on May 28 which is the greatest-ever political challenge for the current Turkish president.
Some 1.5 million Turkish citizens eligible to vote reside in Germany, which is home to the world’s largest Turkish community.
Kilicdaroglu, candidate of a six-party opposition alliance, won 44.88 percent support in the presidential election, trailing Erdogan on 49.52 percent.
Attention is now focused on nationalist Sinan Ogan, the candidate who came third with 5.17 percent of votes. Any decision by him to support one of the two candidates in the runoff could potentially have a decisive role.