A total of 1,153,842 people voted abroad for Türkiye’s presidential election runoff within two days, according to the Supreme Election Council (YSK).

The YSK said on Monday that 1,099,841 people voted at Türkiye’s foreign offices, while 54,001 voted at customs.

The voting of Turkish nationals living abroad started at the country’s foreign missions and customs gates on Saturday.

Voting overseas will continue until May 24. After that, those who want to vote at the customs gates can cast ballots until May 28 at 5 p.m. According to the Foreign Ministry, 3,461 ballot boxes were set up for the second round.

Over 1.8 million Turkish voters voted abroad in the May 14 elections. In the first round of voting, some 65% of voters in Germany, home to Türkiye’s largest diaspora, backed the incumbent.

The ballots abroad are brought to Türkiye via diplomatic couriers and methods determined by the YSK under maximum security measures to be kept safe in the capital Ankara.

Both President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu called on the Turkish diaspora to go to polling stations and vote for the second round.

"I ask you to exercise your democratic right by closely following the election dates in your countries," Erdoğan wrote on Twitter on Friday.

Similarly, Kılıçdaroğlu said it is a "national duty" for Turkish citizens living abroad to vote in the country’s May 28 runoff.

Turnout increased

On the other hand, the YSK said that the turnout generally increased in the May 14 elections, while the number of invalid votes decreased.

According to information compiled by Anadolu Agency (AA), the number of registered voters in Türkiye was 56,322,632 in the 2018 presidential and parliamentary elections, while it increased to 60,721,745 in 2023.

On May 14, 53,993,683 people cast their votes; this number was 49,671,344 in 2018.

Furthermore, the number of invalid votes was 1,109,260 in 2018 and 1,020,749 on May 14.

Turnout was announced to be 88,92 in the first round in 2023 and 88,19 in 2018.

Regarding voters abroad, 1,358,584 people voted, 17,366 of which were invalid. This number was 1,691,287 for the May 14 elections. Thus, the turnout abroad increased from 44.62% in 2018 to 49.40%.

In 2018, 168,031 people voted at customs, and 148,183 voted in 2023.