Türkiye preparing for electronic elections: YSK head

Oya Armutçu - ANKARA

Alamy Photo

Türkiye is gearing up to implement an electronic election system, taking inspiration from countries such as the United States, Estonia, Switzerland, Canada and Brazil, Supreme Election Council (YSK) head Ahmet Yener has said.

“We will engage in discussions with political party representatives in parliament regarding legal regulations. If the necessary adjustments can be made, electronic elections will be conducted,” stated Yener, emphasizing the necessity of this transformation.

Yener projected the year 2028 as the target for this transition and mentioned the possibility of initially testing electronic voting in overseas locations.

“We may begin electronic voting after one or two elections,” he said,
underlining that preparations would begin after the 2024 local elections.

Yener further revealed that the council conducted a study on electronic voting in 2014, but it did not progress beyond that stage. “Implementing electronic voting will bring significant economic savings and enhance convenience for our citizens,” he added.

If the decision is made to adopt this system, it will be based on the models used by countries with populations similar to Türkiye, Yener stressed, pointing out the importance of selecting a country with at least 45-50 million voters as a benchmark, rather than one with only 2 million voters.

“Technical evaluations will be conducted in this regard. We will seek input from our engineering experts and chart a course. Additionally, we will explore the possibilities of implementing electronic voting through e-Devlet [the Turkish e-government gateway]. All of these alternatives will be thoroughly examined and evaluated,” Yener said.

Addressing recent allegations on social media that votes were stolen during the elections held on May 14 and 28, Yener clarified the existing protocol. “The valid documents are the wet signed minutes. Copies of these minutes are provided to political party officials at the ballot box. If any data entry errors occur, they can lodge objections by attaching the wet signed minutes. If their objections are deemed valid, the district election boards will make the necessary adjustments,” he assured.

Yener also disclosed plans to commence work in September to assess the deficiencies in earthquake areas, ahead of the upcoming local elections.

“Our containers in the quake zone will remain in their current locations. Even if they are utilized for other purposes, they will be returned to us during election time. As we strengthen existing schools and establish new ones, the need for containers may diminish. Nonetheless, we will maintain our existing containers,” Yener said.