Title: Election Repot local elections turkye March 31 2024
Place of publication: Switzerland
Release date: 2024
In the course of our election observation, almost all delegations had to contend with intimidation and access bans by the authorities. In addition to some irregular incidents and suspicions of election manipulation through bribery and extortion in several regions, we were able to identify two gross and widespread violations. Firstly, an excessive and intimidating police and military presence in almost all areas. In two regions (Van and Şirnak), repression against the population and the DEM party was also documented in the aftermath of the elections. Secondly, a new strategy to influence the election results through targeted voter transfers of 46.901 state employees, such as police officers and soldiers.
While in previous years the will of voters was undermined through targeted political repression, the imprisonment of elected mayors and the use of trustees, this time state employees such as police and military were now sent to the Kurdish regions to vote. In some cases, these people were registered in the regions over a period of 6 months. In other cases, the process was ad hoc. Masses of males between the ages of 20 and 30 were registered in government buildings such as police stations and spent the night in schools and universities specially cleared for this purpose in the days before the election. The use of security forces to reduce the voting power of the local Kurdish population, other local minorities and especially women can be seen as strategic, as these voter transfers were concentrated in regions where a close election result between the AKP, MHP or DEM party was expected, and the participation of thousands of soldiers could tilt the result.
In our view, this is a gross and deliberate attempt to manipulate the local elections against opposition parties. We would like to draw the attention of the international public to this and urge the official election observation institutions to check the voter registers of affected regions in order to get a final picture.[1]