Over 13,000 Bulgarian citizens in Turkey have submitted applications to vote in the presidential elections on October 25. 78 polling stations have been opened in the country, and voting will be done by machine in 27 of them. The number of polling stations is higher than in the spring parliamentary elections, when a limit of 20 polling stations was in effect in non-EU countries.
In Çorlu, voters are not expecting much turnout
In Çorlu, where there are five polling stations, two of them in the Şeyhsinan district, voters described the campaign as less noticeable than in previous elections.
Kader, who has lived in Turkey since 1989, says she always votes, but she does not expect a large turnout. “There have been elections very often lately. People, many of them, do not know that there will be elections. They do not know to a large extent who the candidates are here. There will not be a very large turnout,“ she says.
According to Emil, there is also a lack of traditional forms of organization around the vote. "Why was there a bus from here every year and we went to Bulgaria, why are there no such things now?" he asks. According to him, there were buses until last year, and this year there are no campaign events.
New applications may delay voting
The rule for people who decide to vote without a prior application has also been changed. Now the document must be filled out in front of the section election commission, while previously voters could fill it out in advance and just sign it in front of the commission.
“This time, however, this application must be filled out in front of the section election commission, which will lead to a certain delay in our case, since filling out each declaration implies a slower course of the election process“, points out Radoslava Kafedzhiyska, Consul General of Bulgaria in Edirne.
Sunay draws attention to an additional difficulty for young voters. “Young people who will vote for the first or second time do not know the Cyrillic alphabet. If there is no one to help them, especially young people, perhaps the voter turnout will be lower. They will have to wait“, he says.
Fewer applications compared to 2021.
About 22,000 applications were submitted by Turkey for the 2021 presidential election. The current number is approximately 13,000. The difference could mean lower turnout, but could also be due to voters filling out the required document immediately before the vote.
In Çorlu, some voters said they might refuse to vote if long queues formed. If the delay becomes significant, election day will be extended by an hour.
Sources: btvnovinite.bg