During the vote counting that continued throughout the night after Turkey’s crucial 14 May elections, the opposition argued that the state-run Anadolu Agency was broadcasting manipulative election results.
The tension increased after discrepancies occurred in the election results according to the number of ballot boxes opened, as reported by the opposition-affiliated Anka Agency and state-run Anadolu Agency.
The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) accused Anadolu Agency of manipulating the timing of the results in elections to favour the AKP, and delaying the release of voting figures for areas, where the opposition is strong, to be able to manipulate the final results.
According to the initial figures shared by the Anadolu Agency, there was a 10 percent decrease in Erdoğan’s votes only three hours later, while Kılıçdaroğlu’s votes increased by the same percentage during the same period.
Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) spokesman Mehmet Rüştü Tiryaki also said during the vote count that Anadolu had shared manipulated election results favouring the AKP. Tiryaki alleged that Anadolu received these figures directly from the AKP headquarters.
In previous elections Anadolu was known to manipulate vote counts in favour of Erdoğan’s government, by prioritising data from regions where Erdoğan and AKP’S voter base is stronger, which makes final results significantly different from early data announced by the agency.
The opposition also accused the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its allies of deliberately delaying the vote count by objecting to ballot boxes where opposition parties and Erdogan’s rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s votes were high. Kılıçdaroğlu told reporters in a statement at 01:00 local time that there were ballots that were recounted up to 11 times.
On social media, many polling officials confirmed the opposition’s accusations and wrote that some ballot boxes were recounted for hours with AKP members’ objections.
As accusations of manipulation, and mistrust intensify, the integrity of the election process in Turkey is being called into question.
