Turkish overseas balloting to start on June 7

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

According to the official election calendar published on April 26, Turkish expats will be able to vote in the upcoming early presidential and parliamentary elections for 12 days from June 7 to June 19.

Voting days will vary according to the country, in line with the number of voters there.

Balloting at customs gates will also begin on June 7 and will continue through June 24, polling day in Turkey.

If no candidate seeking the presidency gets an absolute majority of votes, a second round of voting will follow on July 8.

Turkish expats will be able to vote in the possible second round between June 30 and July 4, according to the election calendar. Balloting at customs gates will continue through July 8.

More than 2.9 million Turkish expatriates are eligible to vote in the election.

In 2014 - the first popular election for the presidency - overseas ballots totaled nearly 931,500. By the November 2015 parliamentary elections that figure had risen to a little over 1 million ballots, with a 40 percent turnout among eligible overseas voters.

In the controversial April 2017 referendum shifting Turkey to a presidential system nearly 1.4 million of 2.9 million eligible expatriates cast ballots.