Turkish opposition contests thousands of ballot boxes after elections

Turkey’s main opposition party said on Wednesday it had filed complaints about suspected irregularities in thousands of ballot boxes in Sunday’s election, in which President Tayyip Erdogan performed better than expected.

However, opposition party representatives said the objections were unlikely to change the outcome of the presidential vote, which will see a May 28 runoff between Erdogan and Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

Muharrem Erkek, deputy chairman of the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP), said the irregularities in each ballot box ranged from a single incorrectly counted vote to hundreds of such votes.

He said the CHP had formally objected to 2,269 ballot boxes across the country for the presidential election and 4,825 for the parliamentary vote that also took place on Sunday, although they represent a small fraction of the total number.

“We are monitoring every vote, even if it doesn’t change the overall results,” Erkek told reporters in Ankara.

Erdogan’s AK Party and his nationalist allies won a strong parliamentary majority, while in the presidential poll Erdogan came in just short of the 50% threshold needed for an outright victory.

Kilicdaroglu, chairman of the CHP, received 44.9% in what was considered the biggest electoral challenge in Erdogan’s 20-year rule. A third candidate, Sinan Ogan, got 5.17%.

Erdogan, now in the lead, says only he can ensure stability in Turkey, a member country of the Western military alliance North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) which is grappling with a cost-of-living crisis, rising inflation and the impact of devastating earthquakes. in February.

The opposition alliance which includes the CHP has urged young voters to support Kilicdaroglu in the second round.

Mehmet Emin Ekmen, deputy chairman of Deva, one of the six opposition alliance parties, told Reuters: ‘We have no strong evidence to suggest that the irregularities could change the results of the presidential race or elect another opposition candidate to parliament. “.

“After Erdogan officially started his election campaign yesterday, I believe the opposition alliance should also channel its energies into the second round,” he added.

Source: Terra

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