Fraud allegations in local elections

BİTLİS – Doğan News Agency

Ready-made ballot papers at one voting station in the eastern district of Tatvan have been annulled. DHA photo

Over 50 million Turks voted in local elections March 30 amid claims of fraud at the ballot boxes which were raised in a number of areas.

Reports have emerged of ballot papers at one voting station in the eastern district of Tatvan in Bitlis province, on the shores of Lake Van, being annulled. The cancellation came after an officer reportedly stamped the outside of the ballot papers and envelopes at home, despite the fact that this final stamp must be made in front of the High Election Board’s (YSK) district officer. The chief electoral officer said he had done the sealing at home to ease their job. The official of the district election board has prepared a report over the issue.

In the western province of Çanakkale, the ballot officials gave the wrong envelopes to the voters for a while. In one ballot in the province’s Bayramiç district, the voting was suspended for a period when it was understood that the envelopes had been distributed erroneously. The mayors and council members are put in one envelope while the votes for muhtars are put a separate envelope.

The district election board decided that the votes put in the wrong envelops but into the right boxes would be counted as valid, allowing elections to continue.

In a ballot in Çorum province, 110 voters failed to vote for the district municipality candidates in Sungurlu district as the head official of the ballot forgot to give them the cards on which the names of the candidates were written.  

One voter realized the situation and objected to it. The election judge decided that those 110 people would not cast votes for the district mayors after holding a meeting over the situation.

A similar situation took place in Isparta province when the chief electoral officers forgot to give the cards on which the Isparta mayoral candidates were listed to voters. As such, 65 voters were prevented from voting for the mayoral candidates in the city.