Supreme Election Council (YSK) announced that the practice of “guest voter” is terminated. The decision comes ahead of the March 2024 municipal elections across Türkiye.
The practice was a source of debate in the country where hundreds of thousands of people traveled to their hometowns to support the candidates. Istanbul, Türkiye’s most populated city and a top domestic migrant hub, in particular, saw a large number of voters temporarily relocating to their hometowns by simply applying to their local civic registry offices.
In most cases, voters in big cities would travel to their hometowns, staying with relatives there.
The exodus had a major impact on election results both in Istanbul and other big cities attracting people from smaller Anatolian towns, as well as in those towns.
Tens of thousands of people already applied to be guest voters. In October alone, some 1.2 million people “relocated” for election. The deadline for relocation was in October. After YSK updated the regulations, relocation applications were suspended.
YSK also banned the candidacy of people who were expelled from the public sector with decrees following the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. Only candidates who were reinstated to their public sector jobs with court rulings will be eligible to compete in the elections.
