Record low voter turnout in neighboring Turkey in the presidential vote, although there are three times more polling stations - 78.
Empty polling stations and empty corridors - such is the picture of election day in Turkey that we have not seen in the last, perhaps, 30 years. Those who turned up to vote in the polling station in "Avcilar" are just over 50 people since the morning, and election day began one hour earlier than in Bulgaria. For comparison, in previous elections, about 500 people had voted by this time of day. The picture is similar in absolutely all 78 polling stations.
In Bursa, about 500 people voted in total for the entire city. The lack of an explanatory and election campaign over the past month, the remote location of the school and the filling out of declarations, which this time are mandatory at the polling station, clearly scares some of the people who have forgotten Bulgarian or cannot write.
The situation is identical in Kardzhali. According to information from BNT, voters of one political force were agitating not to vote with the explanation that these elections are not important. As of 11 a.m., the turnout was 2.55%. There has been one complaint so far in Momchilgrad about a campaign board. A campaign clip was broadcast there. The signal is currently being checked by the regional election commission in Kardzhali.
In the village of Most, there are three polling stations, and in the largest of them only 15 people had voted by noon. In another, only five people exercised their right to vote, and that was together with the members of the polling station commission. The picture is similar in Chernoochene. Out of 3,000 people on the lists, only 10 people had voted by 10 a.m. In the municipality of Ardino, voting is also going slowly - only about 1% voted. However, there are also examples of high turnout - in one of the sections in a hospital in Momchilgrad it is 50%.
The unusual picture of the weak vote here is an occasion to look for people who live far from the hustle and bustle of the large urban center. People who have never seen a Bulgarian president, but in order to go to vote, they have to travel kilometers through the mountains or on a road at the speed of a saddled donkey.