BERLIN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Official polling for expatriate citizens in Turkey's presidential and parliamentary election began at consular offices throughout Germany on Thursday.
Around 1.4 million voters with Turkish passports in the country are entitled to cast their ballots from abroad. Consular offices in cities like Berlin, Duesseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich began polling in the morning (CET) and will remain open until June 19. National citizens in Turkey will be called to the vote on June 24.
The acting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking re-election after having recently succeeded in widening the powers associated with his office significantly in a controversial constitutional referendum. Erdogan warded-off a military coup against his rule back in 2016 and has since launched a government crack-down on political dissidents.
Nevertheless, recent opinion polls suggest that the incumbent will narrowly fail to secure an absolute legislative majority in the first round of voting. If a second run-off ballot is held, polling will commence again at Turkish consulates in Germany between June 30 and July 4, while a second round will be held in Turkey on July 8.
In total, more than 3 million Turks who are living abroad are entitled to vote, of which the biggest single group lives in Germany. Turkish expatriates represent more than 5 percent of the country's electorate and could hence be a decisive factor in the outcome of a narrow presidential and parliamentary contest.
Speaking during a campaign rally on Wednesday, Erdogan made a plea to his European-based supporters to turn up at consular voting booths in force. "With god's help, make the ballot boxes overflow," he said.?
