A delegation of election observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) accused Turkish authorities of obstructing their work by preventing their members from entering the country.
Søren Søndergaard, a Danish MP from the left-wing Red-Green Alliance, said Turkey not allowing them entry was an attempt to manipulate elections and undermine their credibility. The OSCE had previously issued a report expressing concerns about the fairness and safety of the election process in the country after an April visit.
“It casts another shadow over the elections,” stated Søren Søndergaard in a tweet. “Turkey’s current regime clearly does not want a diverse group of election observers from the international community for the upcoming elections. Let’s hope that democracy in this great and beautiful country will soon see some light at the end of the tunnel.”
Turkey’s 60 million voters will go to polls on 14 May to elect the new president and parliament, in what is considered the highest-stakes election in the last two decades as polls show a more or less equal chance for incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to win or lose the presidency against main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, ending his rule since 2002.
