Only 338,000 earthquake victims that moved to other places in Turkey following the 6 February twin earthquakes have officially changed their addresses and will cast their votes in their new places of residence in the 14 May elections, Milliyet reported.
According to the figures announced by the country’s Supreme Election Council, two million people left Turkey’s earthquake-hit southern provinces and moved somewhere else in the country following the disaster.
To be able to cast their votes in their new places of residence, the earthquake survivors had until 17 March to update their addresses online. However, 1,662,000 earthquake survivors that moved to other provinces from the earthquake area have not updated their addresses. Those voters will need to return to their home cities in order to be able to cast their votes in polls next month.
The tremors in February affected 10 provinces in Turkey’s south and southeast which was home to some 13.5 million people. Given that some provinces have been heavily destroyed as a result of the disaster, traveling to earthquake-hit areas will likely be difficult for voters who have moved elsewhere.