The Turkish community in Germany (TGD) was surprised at the relatively high turnout in the Turkish elections in this country. According to information from the TGD, significantly more German-Turkish voters have already cast their votes nationwide than in the last election in 2018, said Federal Chairman Gökay Sofuoglu on Thursday.
“That’s something that surprises me a bit. But when I talk to people, I get the feeling that it is a fateful choice for many.” In the previous election, participation in Germany was 49.74 percent, higher than ever.
Elections in Turkey: Head-to-head race between Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu
Parliamentary and presidential elections will take place in Turkey on May 14th. Since April 27, around 1.5 million German-Turks who are eligible to vote in Germany have had until May 9 to cast their votes for the elections in Turkey. After 20 years in power, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fears his re-election. Polls predict a neck-and-neck race between Erdogan and his challenger, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Kilicdaroglu is running as a joint candidate for an alliance of six opposition parties from different camps.
The high turnout is partly due to the large number of German-Turkish new voters
Because of the head-to-head race, many people in Germany think that their vote is decisive, Sofuoglu said. “I see a great, great motivation to take part in the elections and to have a say in life in Turkey.”
Sinem Adar, a researcher at the Center for Applied Turkey Studies, noted that voters abroad are important for Turkey’s elections. According to Adar, almost half of the Turks who live abroad and are entitled to vote live in Germany. “If Germany were a kind of electoral region within Turkey, it would basically be the seventh largest region. So this is significant.”
What distinguishes these elections from the past is the high number of new voters abroad. These could be young people who are eligible to vote for the first time or people who have registered abroad for the first time, Adar said.
You can find out more about the Turkey election in our ticker:
Turkey elections in the news ticker – Erdogan election posters in Nuremberg cause an uproar
