Politics

A new opinion poll released Friday, 9 days ahead of the May 21 election, shows ruling New Democracy leading main opposition SYRIZA by 7 points in voting intentions.

With excitement and anticipation seen on people's faces, Türkiye headed to the most critical elections in its 100-year history, as millions of Turks flocked to the polling stations across the country on May 14 to elect their new president and members of the 600-seat parliament.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is currently facing challenging times, and alongside him, authoritarian leaders from around the world are concerned about his fate. Recent opinion polls indicate that he is on the verge of losing the upcoming May 14 elections.

"We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria" (WCC-DB) accused the chairwoman of the GERB-SDS parliamentary group, Desislava Atanasova, of violating the gentlemen's agreement on the rotation of the chairmanship of the parliament and the legal commission.

Campaign policies are in short supply ahead of Albania's May 14 local elections, in which the ruling Socialists face a Democratic Party split in two.

Mariya Gabriel, GERB's European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. Photo: European Parliament.

GERB expects to receive a mandate from President Rumen Radev to form a government. The party is yet to announce other offerings for ministerial positions.

As voting ends at the foreign representative offices abroad on May 9 for Türkiye's upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May 14, "diplomatic couriers" has begun to bring overseas votes back to Türkiye.

Following the ballot boxes' closure, the ballot papers were sealed and put in sacks under the supervision of a committee and observers.

Voting ends at the diplomatic missions abroad on May 9 for Türkiye's upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May 14 at home, while citizens abroad can still cast votes at border gates.

Polling stations were closed in most European countries yesterday. However, voting will continue in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany and Luxembourg until late May 9.

The number of expatriate votes cast in Türkiye's upcoming elections has reached nearly 1.2 million, prompting the government to set up additional ballot boxes abroad.

More than 3.4 million Turkish citizens living abroad are eligible to vote for the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May 14 at home, around 277,000 of whom are first-time voters.

BELGRADE - Speaking to reporters after last night's shooting spree in Mladenovac that left eight people dead, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he had proposed a reinstatement of the capital punishment but that the government was against the move.