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More than 55m Turks to vote in historic referendum

16 April 2017 11:45 (UTC+04:00)
More than 55m Turks to vote in historic referendum

More than 55 million Turkish citizens will vote Sunday on the April 16 referendum proposing constitutional changes, including giving wide-ranging executive powers to the president, Anadolu Agency reports.

Citizens will go to over 167,000 polling stations nationwide. Over 1 million of them are first-time voters who recently turned 18. Inmates -- except for the criminals who are convicted for intentional crime -- will also be able to vote at 463 polling stations located inside state prisons.

Prisoners, who are jailed and pending trial, and who are convicted for negligent crime, will be able to vote in the referendum.

Although the Supreme Election Board has not publicly announced the exact number, according to a story on Turkish national newspaper Milliyet, there are currently 78,894 prisoners who were convicted and would be able to vote, 127 percent more than in the November 1 elections.

Sunday’s ballots will have two sides with two different colors, and voters will indicate their choice by voting either Yes on the white side of the paper or No on the brown side. Voters will impress a seal on the side they have chosen.

Voters will then place the ballot inside a yellow envelope that has the symbol of the Turkish Republic's Supreme Election Board on it and cast their ballots.

Voting will take place between 7 am and 4 pm in Turkey's eastern provinces of Adiyaman, Agri, Artvin, Bingol, Bitlis, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Erzincan, Erzurum, Gaziantep, Giresun, Gumushane, Hakkari, Kars, Malatya, Kahramanmaras, Mardin, Mus, Ordu, Rize, Siirt, Sivas, Trabzon, Tunceli, Sanliurfa, Van, Bayburt, Batman, Sirnak, Ardahan, Igdir, and Kilis.

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