Especially Erdogan? – Turks in Austria voted with a majority this time

In the 2018 presidential election, he received 72.3 percent of the votes cast in Austria. In the final accounts, Erdogan only prevailed by 52.6 percent. This time, there are polls that the Turkish president could be behind his Social Democratic challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu overall. Kilicdaroglu leads a six-party opposition alliance.

108,000 Turks eligible to vote
While the elections in Turkey only take place on Sunday, citizens abroad can already cast their vote. In Austria, this was possible in the consulates-general in Vienna, Salzburg and Bregenz and in branches in Linz, Graz and Innsbruck, which were open from April 29 to May 1. About 108,000 people had the right to vote. Between 54 and 56 percent of them would have participated. Five years ago, only about 49 percent had voted.

Vote for the opposition in Germany?
In this country, Turks are excluded from political participation, said Ambassador Ozan Ceyhun, explaining his participation in the presidential elections. That way they could voice their problems. Turnout was also higher in Germany (see video above) than five years ago. On Sunday, that was 43 percent of eligible voters. The opposition alliance could get more votes there than in 2018, Yunus Ulusoy of the Center for Turkish Studies in Essen suspects.

“The increase in turnout shows that Turkish voters attach great emotional importance to the election, even if the results do not affect their daily lives in Germany,” he said. Dual citizenship is allowed in the neighboring country.