Meletî (Malatya)- Turkiye will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14, 2023. No one knows how the elections will be held in the cities affected by the February 6 earthquakes because no one knows how many people have been killed or displaced by the earthquakes. Last week, the candidates of the Green Left Party announced that hundreds of electors were registered at places where no one lives in Semsûr (Adıyaman). According to local sources, hundreds of electors- all men- have been registered at places where no one lives in Malatya, another city affected by the earthquakes. In the city, thousands of people have been killed and displaced by the earthquakes while thousands of earthquake survivors have been living in tent or container cities. In 2019, the city had 647,000 voters but now the number of the voters is 547,000.

According to the local sources, hundreds of men have been registered at places where there are no buildings or houses in the Yeşilyurt district of Malatya. When we searched the locations on Google Maps, we found out that in the places where hundreds of men have been registered, there are no buildings or houses, they are empty places.

‘People are concerned about electoral fraud’

NuJINHA spoke to Tülay Kaçar, candidate of the Green Left Party in Malatya, about the allegations. Tülay Kaçar told us that they reported the allegations to their lawyers. “People in the city are concerned about electoral fraud. They think special care must be taken to ensure the security of those drop boxes because they witnessed how the AKP did the same thing during the previous elections; people voted together, some people voted in the name of dead people and many people were registered where they did not live. People do not want what had been experienced in previous elections to happen again.”

“Electors are registered at places where no one lives’

“Electors are registered at places where no one lives,” Tülay Kaçar said that they would begin legal action about this issue. “There is no clear information about how many people have been displaced or killed in Malatya by the earthquakes. There is no official data. People are concerned because some people may vote in the name of dead people in the upcoming elections. We go to the places where electors are registered but we see that there are no buildings or houses there. I call on our people to protect their votes and we call on citizens who have been displaced by the earthquakes to reach us. We can arrange transportation for them. The supporters of the Green Left Party are conscious and organized people. We know that they will protect ballot boxes in the city. As the party, we have already taken measures against electoral fraud. I call on the people of Malatya to protect ballot boxes and their votes on the election day to protect their right to vote.”