Four days after Turkey’s ruling AK party triumphed in nationwide elections it was forced to beat back allegations of voter fraud while bowing to a constitutional court verdict overturning its controversial ban on Twitter.
The fraud allegations and the Twitter case together underscored the bitterness of the country’s politics and deepened concerns as jockeying has already begun for an inaugural presidential election in August. High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights.
Mansur Yavas, the opposition candidate in the showpiece race for mayor of Ankara, has alleged that irregularities plagued initial counts that put him 32,000 votes – less than 1 per cent of the total – behind the ruling party incumbent. As of Thursday afternoon, there were still no official figures for Ankara.
But Mr Yavas’s Republican People’s Party, or CHP, demanded a recount, arguing that results from about 250 ballot boxes were incorrectly entered into the central electoral system, so creating a question-mark over 75,000 votes. “There are serious violations,” said Gokhan Gunaydin, a deputy chairman of the party.
“Officials should give the public a satisfactory explanation as soon as possible.” Melih Gokcek, the current mayor for the ruling AK party, has denied fraud allegations and argued that a lack of support on the city council would make it impossible for Mr Yavas to govern.
Voter fraud has not been a usual feature of Turkish elections. Erik Meyersson, a Turkey specialist at the Stockholm School of Economics, identified a correlation between AK party leads in Ankara and the number of ballots declared invalid – but could not establish definitively whether fraud took place.
Read more: Turkey election fraud claims emerge as Twitter ban is dropped - FT.com
The fraud allegations and the Twitter case together underscored the bitterness of the country’s politics and deepened concerns as jockeying has already begun for an inaugural presidential election in August. High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights.
Mansur Yavas, the opposition candidate in the showpiece race for mayor of Ankara, has alleged that irregularities plagued initial counts that put him 32,000 votes – less than 1 per cent of the total – behind the ruling party incumbent. As of Thursday afternoon, there were still no official figures for Ankara.
But Mr Yavas’s Republican People’s Party, or CHP, demanded a recount, arguing that results from about 250 ballot boxes were incorrectly entered into the central electoral system, so creating a question-mark over 75,000 votes. “There are serious violations,” said Gokhan Gunaydin, a deputy chairman of the party.
“Officials should give the public a satisfactory explanation as soon as possible.” Melih Gokcek, the current mayor for the ruling AK party, has denied fraud allegations and argued that a lack of support on the city council would make it impossible for Mr Yavas to govern.
Voter fraud has not been a usual feature of Turkish elections. Erik Meyersson, a Turkey specialist at the Stockholm School of Economics, identified a correlation between AK party leads in Ankara and the number of ballots declared invalid – but could not establish definitively whether fraud took place.
Read more: Turkey election fraud claims emerge as Twitter ban is dropped - FT.com
No comments:
Post a Comment