Early voting begins in Türkiye's presidential, parliamentary polls

Early voting for Turkish nationals living abroad has begun for Türkiye's presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May 14.

The polling started at 0500GMT on Thursday and is scheduled to end by 1400GMT.

A total of 156 polling centres in 73 countries have been set up.

The voting started at the customs gates where ballot boxes are set without an appointment for the process. Voting at polling centers will end on May 9, and at the customs gates on May 14.

There are over 3.4 million registered voters abroad. The number of voters who will cast their votes abroad for the first time is 277,646. For these voters, 4,671 ballot box committees were formed at the customs.

For the first time this year, Türkiye's Supreme Election Council will establish ballot boxes in Belarus, Brazil, Estonia, Morocco, Montenegro, South Korea, Libya, Lithuania, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Portugal, Slovakia, and Tanzania.

Highest number of voters in Germany

In countries where ballot boxes are set, Germany has the most Turkish voters, and Brazil has the least for Türkiye's presidential and parliamentary elections.

Over 1.5 million voters will go to polls in 26 polling offices in Germany, followed by France with 397,086 voters in nine polling offices, and the Netherlands with 286,753 registered voters.

In the US, more than 134,000 voters will cast their votes in nine polling offices.

According to the data of the Supreme Election Council, the country with the least number of Turkish voters is Brazil with 581, followed by Nigeria with 584.

In case none of the candidates secures more than 50 percent of the vote, balloting will be held for a possible runoff, set for May 28, on May 20-24 at the specified polling offices.