,  By  T-VINE

Turkiye Elections 2023: UK voting dates and venues for Presidential runoff confirmed

On Sunday, 28 May, Turks will go back to the polls for the second round of the Presidential Elections to decide whether Recep Tayyip Erdoğan remains as president or his challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu becomes the 13th President of the Turkish Republic. Neither candidate managed to get over the 50% threshold to win in the first vote on 14 May.

Voting arrangements are also being made for over 3.4 million Turkish citizens living abroad who are also eligible to vote. Turkish embassies and consular staff in 73 different countries will again establish polling stations in the coming days for Turkish citizens to participate in the elections.

For those living in the United Kingdom, voting will take place over five days, from Saturday 20 May to Wednesday 24 May. The Turkish Embassy in London and its Consular Offices announced details on social media on Wednesday.

London

The venue to be used as a polling station for the second round is Novotel London West in Hammersmith, West London, which will be open to voters from 8am to 10pm for each of the five days (20-24 May) the polling station is open.

Polling stations are also being set up in the north of England and Scotland for the second round of voting. Most will also run for five days, but not Leicester, where voting will run for just two days.

Edinburgh

Turkish Consulate, 39 Drumsheugh Gardens, Edinburgh EH3 7SW

20-24 May, 08.00-22.00

Manchester

Turkish Consulate, 14 Oxford Court, Manchester M2 3WQ

20-24 May, 08.00-22.00

Leicester

Leicester Tigers Rugby Club, Director’s Lounge, Mattioli Woods Welford Road Stadium. Aylestone Road, Leicester LE2 7TR

20-21 May, 09.00-21.00

4 in every 5 votes in UK went to Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in round 1

Around 5% of Turkiye’s 64 million voters live abroad. Collectively this block of 3.4 million votes equates to one of the country’s large cities, giving them significance in these elections.

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu

The UK is the seventh largest overseas territory for Turkish votes, with nearly 128K people eligible to vote.

Just over half the UK Turkish electorate participated in the first round of the Presidential Election, with the overwhelming majority backing the main opponent, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who received four in every five votes cast in the UK.

Unofficial results from UK voters in the first round of Turkiye’s Presidential Election were as follows:

  • Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu: 79.04%
  • Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: 18.25%
  • Sinan Oğan: 1.31%
  • Muharrem İnce: 1.48%

Electorate size: 127,852 | Turnout: 50.1%

 

Main image, top, of voting booths for the first round of the Turkish Elections 2023 at the Old Billingsgate polling station in London, 29 April 2023. Photo © Halil Yetkinlioglu