Turkey's High Election Board rules against use of indelible ink in elections

Turkey’s High Election Board (YSK) has denied the opposition İYİ (Good) Party's request that fingers of voters should be marked with indelible ink in the upcoming general elections for election security. The Board stated that İYİ Party's request required legal arrangement and decided that no action should be taken.

Thursday March 09 2023 08:10 pm

Duvar English

Turkey’s High Election Board (YKS) has ruled against marking voters’ fingers with indelible ink during the voting process in the upcoming elections. The Board said that adopting such an election security measure required a legal arrangement.

The YSK made the remarks after the opposition İYİ (Good) Party's demand in this regard.

Painting one finger of those who voted in the elections with indelible ink was first used in Turkey in the March 28, 2004 elections. After the March 29, 2009 local government elections, this practice was abandoned.

Although the YSK argues that one person can cast only one vote thanks to the address-based system based on the Turkish ID number, opposition parties are in favor of returning to the practice of election ink.

In 2022, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) had submitted a proposal for a return to the finger-painting in elections but the proposal was rejected by the votes of the ruling coalition Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) lawmakers.