Presidential Election Runoff Observation Interim Report
28 May 2023
Independent Election Monitoring Platform and İHD as the component of the platform continued their election monitoring activities in the field with their observers. The first data on allegations of electoral violations reported by their independent election observers and those compiled from the press are as follows:
Adıyaman-Sincik: Mass voting was reported in Hasanlı village and Sincik center. CHP lawyers intervened.
Ankara – Çankaya: At Kocatepe Mimar Kemal Anatolian High School, 3 people were detected trying to vote with invalid ID cards; 1 person voted, 2 people were prevented.
Bingöl: CHP delegation went to Çavuşlar village of Bingöl after a mass voting report and was attacked. The group objecting to mass voting told the delegation “This is Çavuşlar, you cannot enter.”[1]
Lawyers from Lawyers for Freedom and Hakkari Bar Association were attacked when they went to a school in Hakkari – Derecik Samanlı (Mavan) Village against allegations of mass voting.[2]
Hatay: CHP observers were beaten by AKP members in Altözü district.
In Hatay- Tanışma village, CHP observers were allegedly thrown out of the school by the gendarmerie.
Hatay: In Fevzi Çakmak neighborhood Cemalettin Tınaztepe School, the head of the ballot box board allegedly voted with the citizens who came to vote.
Hatay- Altınözü Ballot box no. 1106 at Toprakhisar Imam Hatip Secondary School was allegedly used for mass voting.
Gaziantep – Nizip Yağmuralan Neighborhood of Nizip, open voting in ballot box 1302.[3]
İstanbul: Observers intervened in Kadıköy and Sarıyer when some police officers and guards tried to vote without 142 documents.[4]
Kocaeli: MHP Dilovası District Executive Yücetan Dilmaç was caught trying to vote twice.[5]
Şanlıurfa-Akçakale: Yazlıca neighborhood. CHP polling officials who tried to prevent mass voting were beaten and thrown out of the school. Lawyers who went to Yazlıca Secondary School in Urfa to vote on allegations of mass voting were threatened. The district governorship said it was a “minor dispute.”[6]
Şanlıurfa: CHP MP Ali Şeker was reportedly beaten in Eyyübiye district of Urfa for objecting to irregularities in the ballot box.[7]
Şanlıurfa: CHP MP Mahmut Tanal, who went to Urfa, where CHP MP Ali Şeker was attacked, said he also was attacked.[8]
Şanlıurfa: In Viranşehir-Anıt/Kerme Village, men voted collectively for AKP in place of women.
Şanlıurfa: In Bozova Arıkök Village, 600 votes were collectively cast for Erdoğan and citizens were prevented from voting.
In Kavaklıdere village of Şanlıurfa-Siverek, ballot box no. 1364 was set up in the house of the village mukhtar. The mukhtar prevented the villagers from voting and tried to vote in place of all voters.[9]
Şırnak: In Ulaş (Zewik) village in Cizre, former AKP district head Cihan Güven and his nephews Ferzen Güven and Mesut Güven, Mehmet Kaçar entered the voting booth with the villagers threatening and pressuring them to vote for Erdoğan.[10]
Şırnak: In Artukoğlu primary school in Cizre, security forces did not allow İHD’s observers to enter the school. The names of the observers were reported to the Supreme Electoral Board and they were taken out.
Yalova: Folded envelopes were found to have been brought from outside.[11]
Yalova Çınarcık: The Green Left Party ballot box board member reported that envelopes were brought from outside and used for voting were cast in the ballot box. A report containing the information of the relevant person was kept and the intervention to the ballot box was recorded.[12]
In the light of the initial data İHD has received and those reported in the press, it has been determined that violations including mass and open voting, obstruction of observers and party representatives, and physical violence took place in the presidential election runoff. İHD calls on all public authorities, especially the Supreme Electoral Board, to fulfill their duties in accordance with human rights standards in order to ensure fair elections.
Human Rights Association
[1] https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/bingolde-toplu-oya-itiraz-eden-chp-heyetine-saldiri-haber-1620809
[2] https://twitter.com/Mazlumengndnz/status/1662787742277804032?s=20
[3] https://twitter.com/GundemiAntep27/status/1662780091091369984?s=20
[4] https://haber.sol.org.tr/haber/polisler-uzerinden-usulsuz-oy-kullanimina-mudahale-iki-yerde-birden-durduruldu-375877
[5] https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/mhpli-yonetici-ikinci-kez-oy-kullanirken-yakalandi-haber-1620808
[6] https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/urfada-toplu-oy-kullanildigi-iddia-edilen-okula-giden-avukatlara-engel-istersen-allah-ol-kimse-giremez-iceri-haber-1620794
[7] https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/ozgur-ozel-milletvekilimiz-ali-seker-sanliurfada-darp-edildi-haber-1620773
[8] https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/chpli-ali-sekerin-ardindan-mahmut-tanala-da-saldiri-haber-1620807
[9] https://twitter.com/saitsirdas/status/1662716746317410304?t=Qxbgenv20GS1vZFQN75OAw&s=08
[10] https://twitter.com/ihlal2023/status/1662719521650614273?t=EqBTnZKw1ewVaaxU-c5lYg&s=08
[11] https://twitter.com/yeniyasamgazete/status/1662724050404139010?t=eNzdnXXUqF5BrsjK0iUHUA&s=08
[12] https://twitter.com/Fehim_Isik/status/1662732642989514752?s=20