More than 500,000 Turkish citizens abroad vote for referendum

Ali VARLI – BERLIN

More than 500,000 Turkish citizens living abroad have gone to the polls in the first week of voting in Turkey’s constitutional referendum. 

Nearly 322,554 Turkish citizens casted their votes at 13 consulates and polling stations across Germany, according to figures compiled by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).        

The high turnout was seen in crowds and long queues in front of Turkish consulates in Dusseldorf and Cologne on April 2, two major northwestern German cities with large Turkish communities.

The turnout percentage of the referendum reached 22.7 on the night of April 2 across Germany.  
       
A number of Turkish citizens went to polling stations on April 2 in Denmark, Belgium, France, Sweden and Austria following Germany. 

The turnout for the referendum was recorded to be higher than that of the early elections of November 2015, when 250,000 Turks living overseas casted their votes on the Nov. 1, 2015 elections.  

In Germany, nearly half of three million Turkish citizens are eligible to vote. They can cast their ballots at one of the 13 polling stations until April 9.     

According to the figures compiled by the AKP, Turkish citizens abroad who voted formed one fifth of the entire overseas Turkish population.
 
In Turkey, 55.3 million people are eligible to vote and can go to the polls on April 16.