Election authorities in Turkey have scrapped a controversial measure that required overseas residents to book an appointment before coming to vote.
The Supreme Electoral Commission (YSK) has relaxed the rules expatriate voting ahead of next year’s general election, expected to be held in June next year.
The “book before you vote” system was widely blamed for the low overseas turnout in August’s presidential election, which was the first time a Turkish head of state was elected by popular vote rather than parliament.
Under the new rules Turkish expatriates will be able to turn up and vote at their nearest polling station up to 24 days before election day in Turkey.
It will also be possible to amend voting hours in certain countries based on local conditions – such as a late sunrise or early sunset. Previously, overseas ballot boxes could only be open between 8 am and 5pm local time, as in Turkey.
FIVE PERCENT TURNOUT
Barely 5 percent of 76,000 eligible expatriates had booked a time to vote in this summer’s Turkish presidential election.
The timeslot booking system introduced by the YSK had attracted similarly few numbers of people around the world.
In Germany, where the number of Turkish voters was 1,380,909, only 92,092 voters registered to vote in the first round.
Of France’s 293,412 voters, just 21,333 booked a slot, while 12,862 of the Netherlands’ 238,968 eligible expatriates did the same.
Community leaders had also criticised the Turkish Consulate’s decision to designate a single polling state in Kensington, far from where most Turkish passport holders live.
İsrafil Erbil, the head of the British Alevi Federation, told Londra Gazete at the time that he believed the decision would affect turnout by at least 50 per cent.
“A polling station placed outside the areas where our community lives is like asking people living on the Asian side of Istanbul to vote in the Europe,” he told Londra Gazete.
