Only one vote cast in Turkey's southeastern village

Arif Arslan, BATMAN – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

A headman in Batman’s Yolveren village was all by lonesome on June 7, as he was the only person to cast a vote at his polling booth because the locality’s other 16 registered voters all now live in Germany.

Village head Mehmet Alcu, 76, had to cast his vote in a neighboring village as a ballot box could not be set up in Yolveren, a Yazidi village, due to security concerns. 

“I am voting outside of my village for the first time in years. May my vote be beneficial to the country,” Alcu said. 

The other resident of the village, Mehmet Alcu’s wife, Hame Alcu, could not vote as she is currently being treated in hospital.

The presiding officer at the ballot box for Yolveren, Atilla Can, said the ballot box, No. 2223, would be one of the first to be counted. 

“The headman’s wife is ill and he is the only one to vote today. He has cast his vote early in the morning and returned to his village. We will nonetheless wait until the polls are closed. This will be one of the first election boxes to be counted,” Can said.