YSK election calendar in progress: Tomorrow is the last day for candidate lists

There is less than 2 months left until the local elections.

The Supreme Election Council (YSK) is proceeding with the election calendar for the Local Administration General Elections to be held on March 31.

According to the calendar, the locations and ballot boxes where voters will cast their votes have been determined, and the printing and distribution of voter information slips will begin on February 29. The distribution of voter information slips to voters will be completed on March 24.

Political party district presidencies will submit their candidate lists for mayoral, municipal council, and provincial general assembly elections to the district election boards, while in metropolitan cities, political party provincial presidencies will submit their metropolitan mayoral candidate lists to the provincial election boards by 5:00 PM tomorrow.

Independent candidates will also be able to submit their applications by 5:00 PM tomorrow at the latest.

Political parties will be able to complete any deficiencies in their candidate lists until February 22. Provisional candidate lists, including independent candidates, will be announced on February 23, and the period for objections to the lists will begin on the same day. The final candidate lists will be announced on March 3.

The printing of combined ballot papers and their distribution to district election board presidencies will begin on March 3.

Freedom of propaganda and certain election bans will begin on the morning of Thursday, March 21, 2024.

On March 28, the lists regarding detainees and those convicted of negligent crimes will be finalized.

Freedom of propaganda will end at 6:00 PM on Saturday, March 30. Voters will head to the polls on March 31.

35 PARTIES WILL COMPETE

Within the scope of the YSK's election calendar, the positions of the 35 political parties that will participate in the election on the combined ballot paper were determined by a draw held on January 27.

According to the draw, the parties are listed on the ballot paper as follows:

"1 AKP, 2 İYİ Party, 3 Left Party, 4 Great Unity Party, 5 Homeland Party, 6 Motherland Party, 7 Democratic Left Party, 8 New Welfare Party, 9 Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), 10 Communist Party of Turkey, 11 Anatolian Union Party, 12 Victory Party, 13 People's Liberation Party, 14 Communist Movement of Turkey, 15 Independent Turkey Party, 16 Future Party, 17 New Turkey Party, 18 CHP, 19 Labour Party, 20 HÜDA PAR, 21 Rights and Freedoms Party, 22 Ocak Party, 23 Justice Unity Party, 24 Democrat Party, 25 Power Union Party, 26 Nation Party, 27 National Path Party, 28 Justice Party, 29 Young Party, 30 Bright Democracy Party, 31 MHP, 32 Workers' Party of Turkey, 33 Democracy and Progress Party, 34 Felicity Party and 35 Patriotic Party"

MARCH 31, 2024 VOTING HOURS

Due to the election taking place in March, the YSK has moved the voting hours one hour earlier in 32 eastern provinces, taking into account seasonal conditions and sunset times.

For this reason, the start and end times for voting in the provinces of Adıyaman, Ağrı, Artvin, Bingöl, Bitlis, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Erzincan, Erzurum, Gaziantep, Giresun, Gümüşhane, Hakkari, Kars, Malatya, Kahramanmaraş, Mardin, Muş, Ordu, Rize, Siirt, Sivas, Trabzon, Tunceli, Şanlıurfa, Van, Bayburt, Batman, Şırnak, Ardahan, Iğdır, and Kilis, as well as in the penal execution institutions located in these provinces, will be applied as 07:00-16:00.

In other provinces outside of these, voting hours will be 08:00-17:00.

News Source: AA