Election board rejects ministry’s request for ballot data

ANKARA

The Supreme Election Board (YSK) has rejected the request of the Interior Ministry to transmit ballot box information and voter numbers for an “election module” to be created within the Security and Emergency Situations Coordination Center (GAMER).

The General Directorate of Information Technologies under the ministry requested in its written application to the YSK country-wide and foreign ballot box information to be used by GAMER, elaborating that the data would be used for the “election module” prepared within the software.

However, the election board rejected the request on the grounds that it was unconstitutional and the YSK is “the only competent authority to keep this information.”

Muharrem Erkek, deputy chair of main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), previously criticized the ministry’s request, suggesting that the aim behind it was to form a “parallel election board.”

Refuting the claims, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said last week in a televised interview that the module was created in a bid to “make the elections safer.”

“From the beginning to the end of the elections, it is the YSK’s responsibility to carry out all the procedures related to the orderly administration of the elections, to examine all corruption, complaints and objections related to elections and to accept the election minutes,” read the board’s decision.

“No appeal can be made to any other authority against the YSK’s decisions,” it underlined.

GAMER is a system that aims to prevent events that disrupt public order and security, and to facilitate coordination in emergencies that arise as a result of these kind of events.