Turkey’s top rights watchdog has spotlighted extensive human rights violations both before and after 31 March local elections, including manipulated voter registrations, strategic relocations of specific demographics to influence votes, and numerous incidents of violence and suppression targeting political parties and their affiliates.
“Around 44,000 ghost voters have been identified, jeopardising election integrity,” stated Hüseyin Küçükbalaban, co-president of the Human Rights Association (İHD), during a press conference on Tuesday.
The İHD released their “31 March 2024 Local Elections Process Report” detailing violations before and after the local elections. The report, revealed at İHD’s Istanbul headquarters, documents numerous infringements including manipulated voter registrations and assaults on political parties’ staff and offices.
Küçükbalaban highlighted how, upon public release of election dates and voter lists, inspections revealed unrealistic numbers of voters registered at single addresses, and strategic relocations of voters, particularly young men and soldiers, to influence election outcomes.
In his address, Küçükbalaban also detailed violent incidents linked to election disputes, including attacks on election campaign offices and candidates. “Before and after the election, many parties experienced assaults on their offices and staff, with Abdullah Zeydan of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party facing attempts to invalidate his electoral win in the Kurdish-majority eastern Van (Wan) province, followed by protests and numerous detentions under torture,” he explained. The aftermath of the elections saw over a thousand detentions and the imposition of movement and assembly bans by the Van Governorship, which significantly infringed on freedom of expression and assembly rights.
The İHD has called on the Supreme Election Council (YSK) and local electoral boards to initiate serious investigations into these groups and individuals threatening election security. The association’s recommendations include ensuring the safety of journalists, revising the judicial influence on the electoral bodies under the current governmental system, and making the electoral process more transparent and accountable to constitutional oversight.
Küçükbalaban emphasised the urgent need for legal reforms to safeguard electoral integrity and uphold democratic standards, including reversing laws modified under state of emergency conditions and adhering to international treaties on election procedures. The İHD advocates for independent election monitoring to be legally facilitated in Turkey, alongside other reforms to prevent biased law enforcement involvement and media manipulation during elections.