Turkish expatriates are showing high levels of civic engagement in the May 14 elections, with over 800,000 citizens living abroad already casting their ballots in the past six days. 

This is a significant increase from the 2018 elections, where less than 400,000 expatriates voted. Eligible Turkish citizens can cast their votes at designated election bureaus until May 9, or at 156 border gates across 73 countries until May 14. The Supreme Election Council (YSK) has placed 4,671 polling stations at 46 border gates, and efforts are underway to provide additional ballot boxes in areas with long queues.

Germany, home to the largest Turkish diaspora, has over 1.5 million eligible voters, with Turks living in the country able to vote in 26 different representative offices. France and the Netherlands have 397,086 and 286,753 eligible voters, respectively.

The YSK plans to rent three planes to bring the votes cast abroad back to Turkey, where a commission will transfer the ballot bags to Ankara. If the presidential election goes to a second round, citizens will cast votes between May 20 and 24 at designated offices. Overseas votes could potentially sway the results, contributing up to half a percentage point in the presidential polls. Photo by Fridolin freudenfett (Peter Kuley), Wikimedia commons.