First signs of tainting

The Supreme Election Council (SEC) has passed a resolution to move ballot boxes despite the objections of HDP Mardin MP Mithat Sancar and HDP SEC Representative Mehmet Tiryaki. Sancar said, “It appears that a greater number of voters will be affected than we had anticipated. The great bulk of these voters are HDP voters.”

HDP Mardin MP Mithat Sancar and HDP SEC Representative Mehmet Tiryaki objected to the SEC to applications for the combining of ballot boxes forwarded through provincial governates in nineteen provinces. Even though Sancar and Tiryaki, having convened with SEC Chair Sadi Güven, conveyed their concerns and objected, at the meeting it held yesterday evening the SEC granted the applications made by provincial governates for the combining and moving of ballot boxes.

Sancar, assessing the SEC resolution for Voice of America, said, “We do not yet know the number of voters affected by the situation. A combination resolution involving a large number of villages is on the cards. It thus appears that a greater number of voters will be affected than we had initially anticipated. The great bulk of these voters are HDP voters.”

“It could alter the outcome of the election”

Sancar in turn commented in the statement he made on exiting the SEC: “The only issue at our meeting was the matter of combining ballot boxes and moving ballot boxes. We constantly say that this has a very close bearing on electoral integrity and the fair running of elections. From the information we have to hand, an application has reached the SEC for ballot box moving and ballot box combining that will cover many sub-provinces and villages out of eighteen provinces centred on our regional towns. This application comes from provincial governates and provincial electoral boards. These provinces in their entirety are provinces in the Kurdish region. The number of voters it is wished to move appears to be 270,000. The SEC has begun to debate these applications as of yesterday. It appears to have made its decision regarding several provinces. The SEC will debate and adjudicate these applications emanating from the administration. Even 0.01% of the vote could swing the presidential election. Who the country’s president is to be could rest on a very small number of votes. It could alter the outcome of the election.”

“There is no security issue”

Sancar, noting that security grounds were cited with regard to moving ballot boxes, said, “Ninety per cent of the ballot boxes accommodating the 270,000 voters were set up at their current locations at the 1 November elections. Transporting and moving was not involved. Let us recall the conditions under which the 1 November elections were held. There were intense operations and widespread clashes. Today, conversely, there are no clashes and operations on this scale. What is the administration relying on to allege that there is a security issue there? This reason is not convincing.”