Council of Europe. “Concerns for fairness of the election process” in Turkey. Voting on 14th May

In Turkey “several political parties had expressed serious concerns about the fairness of the electoral process with respect to equal coverage in public media and a lack of fair rules governing the funding of political parties and electoral campaigns”. This has been pointed out by a pre-electoral delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe that went to Ankara to assess the election campaign and the preparations for the presidential and parliamentary elections that will take place in Turkey on 14th May 2023. “The latest electoral amendments do not in practice prevent the President from using administrative resources”, the delegation highlights. The delegation met the Head of the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission, presidential candidates or their representatives, representatives of political parties, the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly, members of the Turkish delegation to PACE, members of the Supreme Electoral Council (SEC) and of the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTSC), as well as media and NGO representatives and members of the diplomatic corps. Two months after the earthquake, the delegation reported concerns for the evacuees’ chance to vote and the organisation of the polling stations. Organising the election campaigns is difficult under the state of emergency in place in these provinces. The Supreme Election Council reassured the delegation that “it would be in a position to assure the necessary logistical arrangements”.
Valentina Bombelli