The journey of foreign votes to Turkey
Voting has been completed in 67 countries for the presidential and parliamentary elections to be held on May 14. Election documents and envelopes kept in foreign embassies began to be sent to Istanbul by diplomatic couriers.
Polls were set up at 156 points in 73 countries.
The voting process for presidential and parliamentary elections in 67 countries has been completed.
The collected ballot papers are brought to Istanbul by diplomatic couriers.
1 million 750 thousand of the 3 million 416 thousand voters cast their votes within the scope of the voting process that started on April 27 at the customs gates and foreign representative offices.
The votes collected from the ballot boxes are sealed in diplomatic bags in front of ballot box committee members and observers. Sealed sacks are sent to Turkey by diplomatic couriers.
VOTES STARTED TO BE SENT
Sealed sacks containing the election documents and envelopes are delivered to the Supreme Election Board.
After the completion of the voting process on Sunday, May 14, at 17.00, the international ballot boxes will be opened together with the other ballot boxes.
GREECE
For the presidential and 28th Term Parliamentary elections to be held on May 14, the ballot boxes containing the votes of the voters registered in the Athens-Pire Consulate General of Turkey were sent to Istanbul.
The voting process, which started at the Athens-Piraeus Consulate General on April 29, ended yesterday evening at 21:00 local time.
Sealed ballot bags were taken to Athens’ Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport by a convoy of vehicles accompanied by diplomatic couriers and party representatives.
The bags were taken to Istanbul by Turkish Airlines’ (THY) plane to be delivered to the election board.
The voting process, which started in the last week of April in some countries and in the first week of May in others, ended in many countries for the General Elections for the President and the 28th Term of Parliament to be held on July 14. May in Turkey
ITALY
The voting process, which started on May 3 at the Turkish Embassy in Rome and the Consulate General in Milan, which are among the voting points in Italy, ended at 21.00 (22.00 CET) local time.
While five ballot boxes were set up in five days at the Embassy of Rome, voting was carried out in two ballot boxes on May 3–4 and in four ballot boxes on May 6-7 at the Consulate General of Milan.
The votes cast in 19 ballot boxes in Italy are expected to be delivered to Turkey by diplomatic couriers on Monday, May 8.
POLAND
Voting at the Turkish Embassy in Warsaw ended at 21:00 local time.
Cengiz Kamil Frat, Turkey’s Ambassador to Warsaw, noted that citizens showed great interest in the voting process.
Frat said, “We have established additional ballot boxes in order to meet the intense demand of our citizens and to shorten the waiting times. I appreciate the interest shown by our young voters, most of them, and wish them good luck for our country and the nation.”
SWITZERLAND
The voting process, which started on April 29 at the ballot boxes set up at three different points in the Swiss capitals of Bern, Geneva, and Zurich, ended.
In this process, voters were able to vote in these three missions of Turkey between 09:00 and 21:00 local time.
According to the data of the Supreme Election Board (YSK), there are 105,820 registered voters in Switzerland.
Turkey’s Geneva Consul General, pek Zeytinolu zkan, noted that the ballot boxes were open between 09:00 and 21:00 for nine days in Geneva.
zkan said, “We saw that our citizens showed great interest in the election. This year, the voting process was carried out with a higher turnout compared to the 2018 elections. As the Consulate General, we had already taken the logistical and physical measures. During the voting, the process, ballot box committees, and our observers worked very harmoniously,” she said.
SWEDEN
Voting began in Sweden on Monday, May 1st, and ended at 21:00 local time.
The votes cast for seven days at the Stockholm Fair held in the capital city of Stockholm were sealed by polling officials.
According to unofficial figures, 13,669 people voted in Sweden, where 42,800 Turkish voters are registered.
In the presidential and 27th Term Parliamentary elections held on June 24, 2018, 10,700 people voted.
nar Ergin, Undersecretary of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, said that the voting took seven days.
Thanking the poll observers who participated in the election, Ergin said, “Long queues formed in the first days of the election.” “Our citizens went to the polls with common sense and voted without any problems.” used expressions.
BULGARIA
Turkish citizens in Bulgaria went to the polls at the Turkish Embassy in Sofia and the Consulates General in Plovdiv and Burgas.
In the country where there are 7,900 registered voters, 1148 voters cast their votes in the capital Sofia.
The voters, who showed great interest in the election, formed a line in front of Turkey’s diplomatic representations with the opening of the ballot boxes on May 4.
At the end of the voting process that lasted for 4 days, the Turkish Embassy in Sofia filled the envelopes containing the votes gathered in the presence of observers into sacks and sealed them.
Votes cast in Sofia and the country’s second-largest city, Plovdiv, will be sent to Turkey by Turkish Airlines (THY) on Monday, May 8.
Votes cast at the Turkish Consulate in Burgas, located on the Black Sea coast in eastern Bulgaria, will be transported to Turkey by land.
SPAIN
Voting took place between May 5-7 at the Turkish Embassy in Madrid and the Consulate General in Barcelona, Spain.
There are 5,838 registered voters in Spain, where voting is made abroad for the first time, and 1484 registered voters in Portugal.
According to the information received from the embassy officials, the voting process went smoothly and without any problems.
Selen Evcit, Consul General of Turkey in Barcelona, said that the interest in the elections was intense and that Turkish citizens came from both Barcelona and surrounding cities and France to cast their votes.
Vote envelopes, which are put in diplomatic bags and sealed, will be stored in embassies (Barcelona Consulate General) and sent to Turkey by THY plane, under the auspices of diplomatic couriers, tomorrow morning.
CZECHIA
In Czechia, where the voting process for the Presidential and 28th Term Parliamentary Elections to be held on May 14 in Turkey ended yesterday, the bags containing the ballot papers were sent to the Supreme Election Board (YSK) by diplomatic couriers.
Turkey’s Ambassador to Prague, Egemen Bagis, shared the information that the 2019 votes were cast during the 5-day voting process at the embassy, and the turnout rate of 3.20 registered voters across the country was 66.85 percent.
