Baku TurkicWorld

More than 1.1 million Turkish citizens residing abroad have cast their votes to elect the country's new president and parliamentary representatives in the historic May 14 polls, according to Supreme Election Board (YSK), TurkicWorld reports with the reference to Daily Sabah.

As of 1:00 p.m. local time on Thursday, over 1.13 million voters had already cast their ballots since voting began on April 27 at customs gates and foreign representative offices.

Voting will continue until May 9 at overseas representations and until May 14 at customs until 5:00 p.m. local time (2000 GMT).

To accommodate high turnout, the YSK has decided to add more ballot boxes to 19 locations in Europe, while also canceling plans to establish ballot boxes in nine locations in Germany.

In Türkiye, the elections will take place on Sunday, May 14. On the presidential ballot, voters will choose between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is seeking reelection, Muharrem Ince, Kemal Kilicdaroglu and Sinan Ogan.

Meanwhile, 24 political parties and 151 independent candidates are vying for seats in the 600-member Turkish parliament.

About 3.41 million Turkish citizens are eligible to vote abroad, where voting has already begun in some countries.