Voters flock to polling stations across country

ISTANBUL

With excitement and anticipation seen on people’s faces, Türkiye headed to the most critical elections in its 100-year history, as millions of Turks flocked to the polling stations across the country on May 14 to elect their new president and members of the 600-seat 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.

Patients in hospitals and receiving home treatment services were taken to their respective polling stations, while officials from the Supreme Election Board (YSK) carried ballot boxes to patients who were unable to make to it the polling stations.

In the Black Sea district of Gümüşhane, 112-year-old woman Güllü Doğan arrived at the polling station with the help of her grandchildren.

Doğan, who was supposed to cast her vote in the ballot box brought to her house due to her age, stated that she preferred to come to the school instead of voting at home.

Residents of the Abide-Hasan Nuri Öncüer Nursing Home in the southwestern province of Muğla’s Menteşe district were brought to the school where they would vote by minibus.

Nursing home residents, as well as senior citizens who came to the polling stations with wheelchairs and walking sticks, cast their votes with the help of officials and police officers on duty.

Visually impaired use specially-designed ballot

In the northern province of Sakarya, 32-year-old visually impaired Yusuf Durmuş voted with a specially developed ballot template.

Durmuş stated that there are holes representing presidential candidates and political parties on this ballot paper, which the YSK has developed specifically for the visually impaired for the first time.

Polling station attendants informed visually impaired individuals regarding candidates and party orders without entering the voting booth. They are also casting their votes with this information.

Quake survivors cast votes in containers

In the meantime, citizens voted in containers in the southern provinces hit by the devastating Feb. 6 earthquakes in which more than 50,000 people died.

Some 100 containers were installed by the YSK in some institutional gardens, container and tent cities in order for people to vote in the quake-hit province of Malatya.

In the southern province of Hatay, which was the most damaged in the quakes, citizens gathered to vote in undamaged schools and in 400 containers installed in the gardens of damaged schools.

A large number of citizens who returned to their hometowns for the elections also formed long queues to vote, along with their suitcases.

Neighbors and relatives who had not seen each other for a long time as they left the city after the quakes also fulfilled their longing while waiting in line.

Election day also witnessed colorful scenes in several regions of the country.

A young couple spared time to cast their votes wearing their wedding dress and suit in Istanbul’s Sancaktepe district hours before their wedding ceremony.

Faruk Ceren, a horse trainer living in the western province of İzmir, came to the polling station on a horse and wearing a cowboy costume.

Tying his horse to a tree in the school garden, Ceren cast his vote. Children of some families who came to the school for the voting process got a chance to ride on the horse.

“I came to the polls today to fulfill the requirements of democracy. We are going through a tense period. I preferred to arrive here with my horse instead of a vehicle to release this tension. It was a pleasant journey, and I received positive reactions from the people,” Ceren stated.