Country records high turnout in presidential, parliamentary elections

ANKARA

Türkiye’s historic presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14 witnessed a high voter turnout at 86.2 percent.

The figure was barely below the 88.2 percent turnout in 2018 when Turkish voters headed to ballot boxes to elect the president and members of the parliament.

The voting occurred from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with more than 60 million citizens who are eligible to cast their votes.

Hitting the roads in the early hours, many voters stood in long queues to cast votes.

Though the voting process ended at 5 p.m., citizens waiting to cast ballots at polling booths during the deadline voted in turns under the supervision of attendants.

The Supreme Election Board (YSK) previously reported that some 1.8 million Turks living abroad have cast votes for the May 14 presidential and parliamentary polls, citing a three-point increase in the turnout compared to the 2018 elections.

A total of 191,885 ballot boxes were set up for voters in the country. Every voter cast two ballots, one for the president and the other for lawmakers, who will serve five-year terms.

In the meantime, the 11 southern provinces jolted by the devastating Feb. 6 quakes were among the places where the election outcome was eagerly awaited.

For the presidential elections, the non-official results put President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ahead in eight of the 11 provinces in the quake zone, including Adıyaman, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, Şanlıurfa and Elazığ.

Erdoğan received 71.8 percent of the votes in Kahramanmaraş, the epicenter of the Feb. 6 quakes.

In comparison, opposition Nation Alliance’s candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was ahead in Adana, Diyarbakır and Hatay provinces.

As for the parliamentary elections, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the National Movement Party (MHP) largely maintained the number of seats in Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Malatya and Adıyaman, which were most affected by the earthquakes.

The results placed the People’s Alliance ahead in all provinces except for Diyarbakır, dominated by the Green Left Party (YSP).