Emmanuel Thomas, DPA, Monday, May 15, 2023
BERLIN – Turks living in Germany overwhelmingly supported incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections a day earlier, according to state media.
With almost 98% of the ballots counted from Germany, Erdoğan garnered some two-thirds of the votes, state news agency Anadolu reported on Monday. However, official figures from the electoral authorities are not yet available.
According to this interim figure, some 65.4% of the votes in Germany went to Erdoğan, while his main rival, opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, received just 32.6%.
Erdoğan is likely to do much better in Germany than in the election overall. According to the Turkish electoral authority, he won 49.51% of the votes, as compared to Kılıçdaroğlu, who garnered 44.88%.
As no candidate received at least 50% of the vote, a run-off vote will be held on May 28 between the two top contenders.
In Germany, results appear similar to the 2018 election. At that time, Erdoğan received 64.8% of the vote among German-Turks – compared to a final total of 52.6% from all voters. Turks residing outside Turkey have been able to vote abroad since 2014.
Germany is home to the largest Turkish community outside of the country.