Turkish election boards deny DEM Party's appeal over 54,000 alleged fraudulent voters

Ceren Bayar / Gazete Duvar

Turkey’s district election boards have accepted only 222 of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party's objections to 54,060 irregular voter registrations for the upcoming local elections in 32 locations.

DEM Party previously stated that thousands of security officers have been registered as voters to single addresses in districts where the party has a significant presence. The party officials noted that all of the objections were against these transfers of security officers.

The election boards justified the rejection of the objections by stating that the individuals moved were "assigned to ensure peaceful and secure elections" and "deployed as reinforcements for exercise and operational activities."

Officials from the DEM Party stated that it was contrary to the logic of local elections for individuals deployed to one location for a duty to vote there, highlighting that this situation is illegal.

Thousands transferred as voters to DEM's strongholds

In 2019 local elections, DEM's predecessor Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) won eastern Iğdır Municipality with a difference of 1,514 votes. There were at least 4,361 suspicious voter registrations in Iğdır's central district, according to the party officials.

In the 2019 local elections, HDP won eastern Siirt Municipality by a margin of 1,616 votes and DEM Party applied for at least 6,819 suspicious voter registrations for the upcoming local elections in the province.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) won the Çukurca district municipality of eastern Hakkari province by a margin of 1,094 votes in the previous elections. Çukurca has a total of 13,878 voters, of which 8,682 voters in the district center consisting three neighborhoods. According to the voter registers for the upcoming elections, only 2,865 of the voters were from Hakkari. Some 1,594 voters who voted abroad in the 2023 general elections were also registered in Çukurca district to vote in the local elections.

AKP won Hakkari's Şemdinli district municipality by a margin of 154 votes. Some 892 voters registered voted abroad in the previous general elections were also registered in Şemdinli district to vote in the upcoming local elections.

In the 2019 local elections, HDP won eastern Kars Municipality with a difference of 1,238 votes. According to DEM Party, the number of voters transferred to the province center was 3,264 in the last six month. Some 920 voters registered in the overseas voter registry were registered in Kars center to vote in the local elections as well.

In the 2019 local elections, AKP won Malazgirt district municipality in eastern Muş province by three votes and all objections were rejected. Voters from the neighboring villages were transferred to the district and a total of 569 law enforcement officers registered at addresses where there were no voters six months ago.

After the local elections held in March 2019, Turkish authorities arrested 43 co-mayors of HDP and appointed trustees to 48 municipalities.

(English version by Can Bodrumlu)