Turkish election irregularities did not affect overall results, admits protest

Turkey’s united opposition said it found irregularities in thousands of ballots used in Sunday’s first round presidential election, but admitted it was not the reason their candidate Kemal Kilikdaroglu lost to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Kılıçdaroğlu’s Republican People’s Party (CHP) said on Wednesday that it had filed a complaint with Turkey’s election board over the results of 2,269 out of 201,807 ballot boxes in the presidential race. Erdoğan won the contest by nearly 5 percentage points to put himself in pole position for the 28 May run-off vote.

The CHP’s deputy chair for legal and electoral affairs, Muharrem Erçek, told a news conference in Ankara that even though its objections, which pertain to about 1 percent of ballot boxes, “do not change the general results, we follow every single vote.” “.

Some social media material surrounding the election tried to interpret Kılıçdaroğlu’s failure to garner nearly as much support as the pre-elections suggested as a sign of widespread fraud. “Misinformation . . . unfortunately, tires us all,” Erkek said, referring to individuals who were making claims without sufficient information.

Kılıçdaroğlu, who represents the six-party coalition, won the support of 44.9 percent of voters on Sunday, compared to Erdoğan’s 49.5 percent, with two other candidates picking up the remaining votes. As none of the main contenders won a majority, the contest moved to a second round.

“There was no winner in the May 14 election,” Ercek said, adding that since “the president did not receive a vote of confidence” it was vital that opposition supporters continue their fight to end Erdogan’s two decades in power. . Large numbers for runoff.

The opposition coalition also raised objections related to about 2 percent of ballots cast in the parliamentary race, which was won by a coalition led by Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The president’s parliamentary coalition was set to retain its majority in the legislature with 323 seats out of 600, according to data collected by Turkish state media.

International election observers have said that while election day was mostly peaceful and the election board appeared to handle the technical aspects effectively, Erdoğan took an unfair advantage in leading the vote.

“Public broadcasters clearly favor the ruling parties and candidates,” Jan Petersen, who led an election observation mission at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, told a news conference this week. He said that “most private national TV channels . . . were clearly biased towards the ruling parties in their coverage”.

He criticized Turkey’s government for putting pressure on “(some) opposition politicians and parties” and said that the work of election officials was marked by a “lack of transparency, inadequate communication and concerns over independence”.

Erdogan will begin a two-day visit to the southeastern region hit by the February 6 earthquake on Friday. The president defied expectations by performing strongly in the earthquake zone, despite speculation that his government’s faltering response to the disaster would erode his support in those areas. Kılıçdaroğlu’s schedule has not been published yet.