Türkiye elections: Top poll body YSK assures transparency in voting

Türkiye’s Supreme Election Council (YSK) has assured that the country’s election process, including the casting of ballots and their counting, is “transparent” and “secured” with no scope for manipulation.

The top election body’s explanation of the election process came after critics questioned the voting system – without offering any proof.

In the first round of voting on May 14, neither incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan nor his closest rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, secured the 50 percent plus one threshold required to win the presidential race.

The presidential race will be now settled in a runoff on May 28.

The YSK tally showed that Erdogan received 49.52 percent of the votes, almost five points ahead of Kilicdaroglu’s 44.88 percent. The third candidate, Sinan Ogan, received 5.17 percent, while Muharrem Ince, who withdrew from the race, received 0.43 percent of the votes.

With no candidate gaining an outright majority, a second round of voting between the two highest vote-getters became necessary, as spelt out in the amended 2017 Constitution.

The runoff would be a first in the country’s electoral history. In an interview with CNN, President Erdogan referred to it as “a new experience for Turkish democracy”, predicting that “my people will turn up for a strong democracy” on the day of the elections.

The parliament, meanwhile, has remained under the control of Erdogan’s AK Party and his allies. With 100 percent of the votes tallied, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and its People’s Alliance are projected to win at least 323 seats of the 600-seat parliament.

CHP and its Nation Alliance won at least 212 seats, while other smaller parties won a combined 65 seats.

‘May 14th elections were transparent’

Ahead of the runoff vote, YSK President Ahmet Yener has condemned allegations about voting irregularities, saying they were “unfounded” and “intended to mislead the public”, adding that the organisation’s system was “transparent”.

“Unfounded allegations shared on social media should not be trusted. The process is carried out in a transparent manner.”

Following the May 14 polls, supporters of the main opposition CHP lodged complaints over alleged “irregularities” in at least 7,094 ballot boxes, including 2,269 involving the presidential race.

Another 4,825 ballot boxes also received objections from the CHP over the parliamentary count.

However, allegations of irregularities by the opposition were due to the system error of the CHP, according to Türkiye’s Disinformation Fighting Center.

“When the alleged issue is examined, it is clearly seen that the wrong data does not belong to the system of the YSK, but to the system of the Republican People's Party,” the organisation said in a statement.

“On the other hand, the votes were spelt correctly in the alleged ballot box committee minutes, but the CHP's system was entered incorrectly.”

Following the objections and recount, it was concluded that the AK Party had secured one more MP in the central Türkiye province of Isparta.

‘Error in CHP’s recording system’

The YSK said it addressed the discrepancies raised by the opposition, and those problems were likely the result of errors in the CHP’s recording rather than the election body’s tally.

Yener, the YSK head, also said that the electoral body had “shared the process” with the party representatives “at all stages, moment by moment.” At least five different parties are represented in the process.

“A copy of the ballot box results report was given to the representatives of the relevant political parties, presidential candidates and the observers of the political parties,” he said.

“The images shown on social media have nothing to do with the YSK,” he said, responding to allegations of vote counting manipulation posted online.

Representatives of the parties are also given the right to appeal the result of the votes and present evidence in case of possible fraud in the counting.

The SECSIS computer system used by YSK to conduct the voting and transmission of election results has employed a “high level” of safety measures“ designed to hinder any safety threats negatively affecting international respectability of our country.”

International observers praise election process

The voting process on election day also received praise from independent election observers from Europe.

In a statement issued following the May 14 general elections, observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) representatives and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) have praised the election process, saying that the high turnout of voters was a clear indicator of a “strong democratic spirit”.

Throughout its history, Turkish voters have overwhelmingly participated in the electoral process, despite intermittent political upheavals, including several coups. Since 1950, the average voter turnout has been over 82 percent, according to public data.

As the political rhetoric continues to intensify ahead of the second round, YSK chief Yener assured the sceptics among the public that all processes are being done to secure the integrity of the voting and ensure that votes are accurately reflected in the final result.