Interior minister unveils election security measures

ANKARA

The Interior Ministry has dispatched an extensive array of security measures, encompassing the assignment of a large number of law enforcement units, to the governor’s offices of the country's all 81 provinces ahead of the local elections on March 31, Minister Ali Yerlikaya has announced.

The minister’s announcement at a briefing on March 25 came less than one week before more than 61 million voters are set to head to polls to determine top local officials.

A total of 594,000 personnel, comprising various units such as Police, Gendarmerie and Coast Guard, will be on duty on election day, Yerlikaya said.

The minister stated that a coordination board was established to review election-related precautions, along with the formation of an election operations center that would coordinate with law enforcement units.

The minister underscored that the security measures were the culmination of deliberations held with all governors across the nation, with the election watchdog also playing a pivotal role in the process.

"We organized election security meetings with the participation of governors, provincial gendarmerie commanders, provincial police chiefs and heads of other relevant units. In line with the risk analyses conducted in these meetings, election security plans were prepared for each province,” he said.

Yerlikaya pointed out that his ministry held meetings addressing cyber security concerns in coordination with the Supreme Election Council and outlined necessary precautions in the virtual realm.

"We are ensuring comprehensive security measures from A to Z with all law enforcement agencies. Across all 81 provinces, in every city and every street, we will witness an election conducted in an atmosphere of peace and security," Yerlikaya expressed.

With more than 61 million registered voters, 1 million young people will vote for the first time. In the elections where 34 political party candidates will compete, more than 206,000 ballot boxes will be set up across the country.

In the elections in which heads of 81 provinces, 973 districts and 390 towns mayors and 50,336 mukhtars will be elected, provincial general assembly membership and municipal council membership elections will also be held.