site.btaTurkiye Will Have 27 Polling Stations on April 19, Down from 168 in 2024

For the parliamentary elections on April 19 this year, seven polling stations will be set up in the Istanbul area. Two of them will be located in Bulgaria’s Consulate General, while the others will be in areas with a compact population of migrants from Bulgaria - Avcilar, Bayrampasa, Bahcelievler, and Esenyurt, said Bulgaria’s Consul General in Istanbul Vasil Valchev in a statement to BTA.

The megacity of Istanbul and the Bursa region, which is also densely populated by migrants from Bulgaria, fall under the jurisdiction of the Consulate General and the Consular Office in Bursa.

Seven polling stations will also be opened in the Bursa area, one of which will be located in the consular office in the city.

In 12 of these 14 polling stations (in the Istanbul and Bursa areas), machine voting will be available. In the two stations at the Consulate General in Istanbul, voting will be conducted only with paper ballots.

According to data from the Central Election Commission (CEC), more than 15,000 applications have been submitted in Turkiye for the April 19 vote, with the highest number coming from the Istanbul and Bursa regions. By this measure, Turkiye ranks first among Bulgarian voters abroad.

When asked about the number of Bulgarian citizens in Turkiye eligible to vote in Bulgaria’s elections, the consul said there is no exact number available, but according to information from expatriate organizations, there are over 250,000 people in the Istanbul and Bursa regions.

“The peculiarity of these elections is related to the drastic limitation in the number of polling stations following the latest amendments to the Election Code and the decision of parliament to open up to 20 polling stations in countries outside the EU, excluding those in diplomatic and consular representations. By comparison, in the previous elections on October 27, 2024, there were 99 polling stations in the Istanbul and Bursa regions, whereas now there are 14, which leads to expectations of high voter turnout at the available stations,” he said.

According to CEC data, in the October 2024 elections, 13,517 people voted in the Istanbul polling stations and 13,843 in those in Bursa.

Across the entire territory of Turkiye, a total of 27 polling stations will be opened for the April 19 elections, compared to 168 polling stations during the 2024 elections.

The Bulgarian Consul General in Istanbul said that all necessary measures have been taken to ensure the smooth conduct of election day.

“In this regard, we have the permission and full cooperation of the Turkish state, represented by the provincial governors, district governors, and mayors, to open polling stations in all locations where we wish, as well as broad support from expatriate organizations on the ground, with whom we are in constant contact, and the engagement and awareness of the voters themselves. In this entire process, we serve as the connecting link to ensure that this organization is implemented in practice,” said the Consul General in Istanbul.

With the exception of three polling stations at the embassy in Ankara, two at the Consulate General in Istanbul, and one at the Consular Office in Bursa, the remaining polling stations in Turkiye will be located in school buildings.

On Saturday, one day before the vote, voting machines are expected to be installed and sealed in the polling stations.