Turks living abroad in Austria took part in the Turkish elections with a record turnout. More than 56 percent of the 111,000 Turkish voters living in Austria had cast their ballots by Tuesday evening, the APA news agency reported, citing the Turkish embassy in Vienna.

Stephan Löwenstein

Political correspondent based in Vienna.

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In the last elections, approval of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party among voting Austro-Turks (72 percent) exceeded the already above-average rate in other countries with a large number of Turkish nationals, such as Germany (65 percent).

In the Turkish presidential and parliamentary elections in 2018, 49 percent of eligible voters took part, this time it was seven percentage points more, a total of more than 62,000 voters. The fact that the embassy has set up additional polling stations in the country may have contributed to the high turnout in Austria.

Residents with a Turkish passport (dual citizenship is illegal in Austria with exceptions) were able to cast their votes not only at the three consulates general in Vienna, Salzburg and Bregenz, but also in Linz, Graz and Innsbruck.

Ambassador Ozan Ceyhun pointed out that foreign voters could still cast their votes at airports or in Turkey itself until election day. Without explicitly promoting a candidate, the diplomat recalled that the race was "very close" and "it's all about the whole."