Turkey’s People’s Democratic Party (HDP) and Green Left Party have started preparations to ensure polling security during the 14 May elections, Artı Gerçek reported.
In order to mitigate against an ongoing legal case that threatens to close down the party, the HDP has fielded its parliamentary candidates under the Green Left Party list for 14 May. However, this decision has created disadvantages in terms of polling security.
According to election rules in Turkey, the five political parties with the highest voter support in previous elections are entitled to appoint representatives on electoral boards in voting centres. The Green Left Party, which will compete in elections for the first time, is not entitled to send representatives to electoral boards and can only appoint observers.
As society’s concerns about polling security rise ahead of 14 May, the HDP and the Green Left Party have mobilised to ensure the presence of one observer for every ballot box and one lawyer in every school to be used as a voting centre. The two parties will cooperate with the Association of Lawyers for Liberty (ÖHD) in preparations for parliamentary and presidential elections.
“We have started polling security activities in all branches and agencies of the ÖHD. There is work going on to appoint at least one, sometimes more lawyers, in almost all schools, as we did before,” , Green left Party parliamentary candidate Arzu Eylem Kayaoğlu told Artı Gerçek.
Kayaoğlu said they are about to complete the polling security work, adding that in İstanbul alone, the parties needed around 3,000 lawyers.
The HDP and the Green Left Party will also distribute their observers’ booklets explaining Turkey’s electoral law and their rights when overseeing elections.
However, the HDP will face a bigger problem on 14 May in relation to votes to be cast abroad and at border points. Following a request lodged by the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the country’s Supreme Election Board decided on Monday that the HDP cannot appoint representatives in voting centres outside Turkey.
