Erdoğan sweeps 59% of overseas votes in Türkiye's runoff
A ballot box set up for overseas voters is seen at Istanbul Airport, Istanbul, Türkiye, May 19, 2023. (DHA Photo)


Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan swept 59% of the votes cast by Turkish citizens living abroad with 63% of the votes counted in Türkiye’s historic runoff election on Sunday.

The opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu received 40.9% of the votes, according to unofficial election results.

Some 1.9 million of over 3.4 million eligible voters cast their ballots abroad in the second round of presidential elections, according to the Supreme Election Council (YSK).

Voting at diplomatic missions ended on Wednesday, while the polling continued at customs gates until 5 p.m. local time (2 p.m. GMT) on Sunday.

In the May 14 elections, a total of 1,839,470 Turkish citizens abroad went to the polls to vote in both the presidential and parliamentary elections.

Erdoğan received 57.47% of the overseas votes in the first round, while opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu received 39.57%.

The number of voters in the presidential runoff has increased by 72,530.

The voting of Turkish nationals living abroad started at the country’s foreign missions and customs gates on May 20.

According to the Foreign Ministry, 3,461 ballot boxes were set up for the second round.

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