Türkiye ranks near the top in voter turnout among OECD states

ISTANBUL

Türkiye ranks near the top of voter turnout among member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), using data from its just-concluded general elections, according to data from the group.

According to information from the OECD and Idea International, the 87.05% turnout rate in the first round of Türkiye’s May 14 presidential election and 84.15% rate in the May 28 runoff put Türkiye at number four on the list, behind only Australia with 89.74%, Luxembourg with 89.66%, and Belgium with 88.38%.

Türkiye’s 64-million strong voter base is nearly twice the total population of those three countries combined, and over 55 million people went to the polls in the election.

Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Iceland, the Netherlands and Norway follow Türkiye on the list. Those countries all have relatively much smaller populations compared to Türkiye's, hovering around 80% in participation.

Behind Norway on the list is Germany, which has a population comparable to Türkiye’s, with a 76.58% turnout rate.

Austria and France trail Germany on the list with 75.69% and 73.69% respectively, while Spain follows with 71.76%.

The US meanwhile had just over a 70% turnout rate and the UK had a 67% rate, while Italy’s stands at 63%.

Switzerland, which has historically been governed through direct democracy, suffers from low turnout rates. Placed last on the list with just over 45%, it falls behind Mexico, Lithuania, and Colombia in democratic participation.

According to unofficial results, incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won Sunday’s election with 52.16% of the vote, while opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu got 47.84%.

More than 64.1 million Turkish citizens were registered to vote, including over 1.92 million who cast their ballots at polling stations abroad.

On May 14, no candidate crossed the 50% threshold in the first round, triggering the presidential runoff, although Erdogan took the lead with 49.52%. On the same day, Erdogan’s electoral alliance also won a majority of seats in parliament.