Except for a few minor scuffles, Türkiye saw a mostly uneventful election day on Sunday in which more than 594,000 security personnel were deployed to ensure a safe voting process for some 61 million eligible voters across 81 provinces.
The turnout was comparatively low at 76.70% in Sunday’s local elections, which saw some 34 political parties competing for mayoral seats in 973 districts and 390 towns, and 50,336 candidates vied for the office of mukhtar in 81 cities.
Some 324,000 members of the Turkish National Police, 197,000 staff from Gendarmerie Command, 2,850 members of the Coast Guard Command, 53,000 village guards and another 17,000 volunteer village guards were stationed across the country.
Ahead of the vote, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya assured they had already sent instructions to local governorates in 81 provinces for election-related measures, both for voters and electoral officials. The Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) oversees the vote and is the ultimate authority to announce the formal results of the elections, while the Interior Ministry handles the security aspect.
Political parties, including the governing Justice and Development (AK Party) and the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), sent out tens of thousands of observers to polling stations, as well.
Municipal elections are mostly a calm affair for millions, though occasional brawls and even shootings occur in and around some polling stations between supporters of rival parties.
On Sunday, a person was injured and three were detained after an argument between two citizens with bad blood turned into a brawl at a school in northern Sakarya province. Voting resumed after police broke up the fight. Elsewhere in eastern Afyonkarahisar province, two rival candidates running for mukhtar got into a scuffle that ended with one injured in his leg after the citizens nearby pulled the two apart and restored peace.
The election day was otherwise largely calm, with judicial supervision and control managed thanks to each branch of security forces utilizing operation centers to ensure smooth coordination of security.
Cybersecurity
Along with security on the ground, the safety of cyberspace is also important for Türkiye, which battles election-related disinformation through a government agency specifically tasked with this fight. Disinformation plaguing social media covers all political parties regardless of their ideology.
Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, set up teams of experts to prevent any unlawful intervention in elections, notably the local vote in Türkiye, a Meta official told Anadolu Agency (AA) a week ahead of the polls.
“In addition to constantly updating our election policies and detecting proactive threats, we help prevent any intervention in elections or voters by removing content that violates our community standards,” Meta Türkiye and Azerbaijan Public Policies Director Sezen Yeşil said.
“Our experts are focusing on coordinated ill-use to intervene in public discourse,” Yeşil explained. “We immediately take action when we detect such activity on our platforms, especially when it’s about elections.”
She said Meta had advanced security operations to bust manipulation campaigns and unearth emerging threats, listing the Advertisement Library as one example.
Democratic values
Similarly, on Sunday, Directorate of Communications Director Fahrettin Altun touted the local elections as a “milestone” in Turkish democracy for “showing Türkiye’s commitment to democratic values.”
“Türkiye’s commitment to democratic values and innovative vision regarding local administrations, highlighted by the March 31 local elections, is of utmost importance nationally and internationally,” Altun said in an article published in more than 50 media outlets in 13 countries.
The campaigns conducted in “safe and fair” conditions during this election process demonstrate that Türkiye is “one of the leading countries” in the region in terms of “democratic maturity” and the significance placed on local administrations, he added.
Stressing that fair, transparent and regular elections are the most fundamental components of modern democracies, Altun said since transitioning to a multiparty system in 1946, Türkiye has been “a leader in holding regular, fair, and transparent elections.”
Utilizing institutions such as the YSK, elections in Türkiye are conducted with the oversight of independent judges, he said.
“Therefore, Türkiye has a sophisticated political culture ensuring election security and citizens’ trust in the ballot box.”
The participation rates in elections in Türkiye demonstrate trust in elections and ballot boxes, Altun stressed.
The participation rate was lower compared to the 84.67% of the 2019 local polls, but Türkiye still had the third highest voter turnout election participation among the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in the presidential and parliamentary elections held last May, with a domestic turnout rate at 88.92% on May 14, and 85.72% in the second round of the presidential elections on May 28.
Türkiye places a “high value” on local administrations, who are the significant interlocutors in answering people’s needs and expectations and have a vision and perspective appropriate for the times, Altun said.
“This election is also a further step in strengthening Türkiye’s vision of regional leadership, and we recognize it as a momentous occasion that will increase the democratic maturity and social participation of our country from a universal perspective.
“Moreover, like all previous elections, these will enable the Turkish people to participate more actively in democratic processes, thus strengthening our democracy,” Altun said.
Türkiye will conduct its elections as per democratic procedures as it has done thus far, and respect the outcomes with both ruling and opposition parties, he stressed.
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