Rights association lists fraudulent voting reports in Turkish local elections

Duvar English

Turkey's Human Rights Association (İHD) published a report on voting irregularities its observers have detected in multiple eastern and southeastern provinces during election day. 

The report included a collection of irregularities observed at the ballots until 2 p.m. local time. 

The İHD noted that the Governor’s Office in the eastern Van province banned its observers from visiting the voting stations. 

Police in multiple provinces including the eastern Siirt, Ağrı, and Hakkari did not allow the İHD observers to enter their assigned ballots. 

The association pointed out that police officers and military personnel were brought to polling stations in large groups with buses and armored vehicles in several districts of the southeastern Mardin, Diyarbakır, and Şırnak provinces, and the eastern Hakkari, Dersim, Kars, Ağrı, and Iğdır provinces. 

The law enforcement personnel voted in their uniforms, with some wearing their weapons. 

The report noted that some civilian voters were not registered at the ballots where law enforcement officers were transferred to vote. 

The report also emphasized unlawful voting provinces in the southeastern Urfa province, such as collective and open voting in some villages. 

Allegations about some voters sharing photographs of their ballots on social media in return for money were also carried onto the report. 

The İHD listed individual instances of illegal practices such as double voting, refusing to present identification to polling clerks, or entering the voting booth in groups. 

The association called upon the Supreme Election Council (YSK) and the district election committees to launch probes into the individuals jeopardizing election safety in various polling stations, and the illegal voting practices observed throughout the country.