Turnout In German Federal Election Reaches 36.5% - Official

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th September, 2021) Turnout in the German national election was at 36.5% as of 2:00 p.m. local time (noon GMT) on Sunday, down from 41.1% recorded at the same time during the previous election, the Federal returning officer said.

"The current election turnout is unsurprisingly lower than in 2017, because we expect a significant rise in ballots cast by voters by mail. Their turnout will be determined at a later date during the final vote counting," Georg Thiel said in a statement.

The electoral body reportedly expects the share of postal votes to be as high as 40%. More than 76.2% of eligible voters cast their ballots in the 2017 federal election by the time the polls closed at 6 p.m.