Turkish presidential voting begins at customs

Voting at customs gates for Turkey’s first-ever presidential election by popular vote is set to be begun on July 26 and will continue until Aug. 10.

Ballot boxes have been placed at the Gürbulak, Türkgözü, Sarp, Kapıkule, İpsala, Hamzabeyli, Pazarkule, Esendere, Dilucu, Dereköy, Habur and Kapıköy customs gates. They have also been placed at the Şakirpaşa, Esenboğa, Antalya, Eskişehir, Elazığ, Gaziantep, Hatay, Istanbul Atatürk, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen, Adnan Menderes, Erkilet, Konya Military, Dalaman, Bodrum-Milas, Samsun, Trabzon and Zonguldak airports, as well as the ports of Kaş, Kuşadası, Ayvalık, Karaköy, İzmir, Çeşme, Derince, Mersin, Taşucu, Fethiye, Marmaris, Bodrum and Samsun.

In order to be able to vote at the stations, voters need to present their Turkish identity cards or passports that contain their Turkish Identity Numbers. If their passports or ID cards don’t contain their ID numbers, voters have to show an additional document of identification carrying their ID number.

The presidential election will be held in two rounds. For citizens currently residing in Turkey, the first round of elections will take place on Aug. 10. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the votes, the second round of the elections will be held on Aug. 24.

All three candidates, Selahattin Demirtaş, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu are set to continue their campaigns across Turkey’s provinces throughout the Eid al-Fitr holiday to mark the end of Ramadan.