How elections will be held in Turkey's earthquake-hit regions

A school damaged in the earthquakes• in Maraş. (Photo: Chamber of Geological Engineers)

Click to read the article in Turkish

The authorities are taking measures to hold elections in the regions affected by the massive earthquakes on February 6 and to ensure that nearly two million people who have been displaced will be able to cast votes.

The presidential and parliamentary elections were brought forward to May 14 rather than previously scheduled as June 18, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on March 10.

Two earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.7 and 7.6 affected 11 provinces in Turkey's east and southeast, heavily damaging or destroying over 227,000 buildings. Over 48,000 people were killed in the quakes and more than two million others have been displaced.

The state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) compiled information about how the earthquakes will affect the election process:

• There are nearly nine million voters in the earthquake region, which will elect 96 of the country's 600 lawmakers.

• The number of MPs to be elected in the earthquake regions will not change because of the quakes.

• Voters in the region will have to register their addresses until the night of March 17. Citizens can register their addresses by applying to civil registry directorates, civil registration points or via the e-government system. As of March 18, registrations will be subject to the approval of district electoral councils.

• People staying in dormitories, hotels, prefabricated houses, container houses, tents and similar places will have to register their addresses.

• Voting centers can only be moved to different locations in the same voting district. For example, the Defne district of Hatay, which was mostly destroyed in the earthquakes, can be moved to the Erzin district, which suffered little to no damage, but cannot be moved to the neighboring province of Adana.

• Citizens will become the voters of the district where they are registered, rather than the district where they were residing before the quakes.

• Schools serve as voting centers in elections in Turkey and this practice will continue in the next elections. If a school used as a voting center is damaged, containers will be set up in its yard for people to cast votes.

• Citizens who lost their homes and have not registered their addresses will not lose their right to vote, according to an amendment to the election law that will come into effect on April 6.

• According to the amended article 36 of the Law on Basic Provisions of Elections, "Voters cannot be deprived of their right to vote in any way due to registry arrangements." Instead, they will be registered as voters according to their last valid addresses.

• Civil servants who are willing to be prospective MP candidates will have to resign by 5 p.m. on March 16.

• The number of votes in a ballot box will be between 360 and 380 in provinces and districts. In villages, it should be no more than 400.

• The citizens cast their votes between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. (AÖ/VK)