ANKARA, May 15. /TASS/. Turkish citizens residing overseas took an active part in the country’s general election on Sunday, May 14, but incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took the lead in less than half (27 out of 74) of the countries where expatriate voting was held, the state-run TRT TV channel said on Monday after 85% of ballots from overseas polling stations had been tabulated.

Ahmet Yener, chief of Turkey’s Supreme Election Council, said earlier that the count of votes cast at overseas polling stations was still ongoing. Overseas voter turnout overall reached 50.87% this time, exceeding 60% and even 70% in some European countries. Expat voter turnout in Turkey’s previous general presidential and parliamentary elections stood at 44%.

Support for the incumbent president was strongest among Turks living in Arab countries. Erdogan scored fully 95% of the vote in Lebanon and 88% in Jordan. As for European countries, he took 80% of the vote in Austria, 66% in Germany and 68% in the Netherlands. Meanwhile, Kilicdaroglu’s support exceeded 70-80% in many countries, as he received 79% of the vote among Turks in the US, 76% in Canada, 83% in the UK, and 87% in the Czech Republic. The opposition candidate recorded record-high support of 91% in Estonia, Portugal and Spain.

In the meantime, however, a majority of expatriate voters cast their ballots in the parliamentary election for Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (or AK Party in Turkish) at the head of the People’s Alliance electoral bloc, which garnered 55% of the expatriate vote compared to the 49% of the domestic vote it received within Turkey. The opposition Nation Alliance bloc, headed by Kilicdaroglu’s Republican People's Party (CHP), got 28% of the overseas vote compared to 45% domestically at home in Turkey.