Turkey: Elderly, sick cast votes in mobile ballot boxes

The elderly and sick who could not make it to polling stations got a chance to vote at home for the first time in Turkish election history.

For the presidential and parliamentary election on Sunday, 17,258 voters registered for services of mobile ballot boxes, after complying with requirements of the Supreme Election Council.

The voters had to present a medical report explaining their reason for being unable to come to polling stations.

A private polling booth was set up where voters cast their votes in privacy.

In the Black Sea province of Zonguldak, Hatice Oral, 55, who has a congenital disability, used the facility.

Live: Turkey Elections 2018

“This simplifies things for us,” said Recep Sengec, 72, who suffers from a muscular dystrophy. He availed the facility in the northwestern province of Sakarya.

In the northwestern province of Kocaeli, bed-ridden 90-year-old Fatma Buyukgol, cast her vote.

Voting started at 8.00 a.m. local time (0500GMT) and will continue through 5.00 p.m. local time (1400GMT).

A patient is being carried to a polling station on a stretcher for her to cast her ballot during the parliamentary and presidential elections, in Kirklareli, Turkey on June 24, 2018 [Özgün Tiran – Anadolu Agency]

A patient is being carried to a polling station on a stretcher for her to cast her ballot during the parliamentary and presidential elections, in Kirklareli, Turkey on June 24, 2018 [Özgün Tiran – Anadolu Agency]

A patient on a stretcher casts her ballot at a polling station during the parliamentary and presidential elections, in Kirklareli, Turkey on June 24, 2018 [Özgün Tiran – Anadolu Agency]