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In a controversial move, the Supreme Election Board (YSK) has decided to launch a new certificate program to train polling clerks who will take part in the upcoming elections to be held in June, raising suspicions as to whether the government is planning to commit electoral fraud by hiring government supporters as polling clerks.
The YSK has sent a statement to governors' offices across Turkey in which it requests a certificate training program be provided for polling clerks who will take part in the June 7 general election. Those who attend the program will be granted a certificate, which will be required to serve as a polling clerk in the elections.
The YSK's training program was first welcomed as a positive initiative. However, the fact that the vast majority of those who have been granted the right to take this certificate program have links to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has led to serious concerns about the credibility of the upcoming elections. The certificate program lasts one day.
The program was announced one day before the start of the training course, and the lists of applicants filled up within an hour, giving the impression that the applicants had been waiting in front of the governors' offices to be able to apply for the program as soon as possible. Many prospective applicants were told the lists were already full when they contacted governors' offices to apply.
Opposition circles claim the certificate program was designed by the AK Party government to keep representatives from opposition parties away from the ballot boxes in order to pave the way for possible electoral fraud.
According to claims put forward by opposition parties, the AK Party is planning to block opposition party representatives from overseeing the ballot boxes during the general election. The new certificate program has been characterized by opposition parties as a “course for cats,” a clear reference to an incident that followed the local elections on March 30, 2014, when Energy Minister Taner Yıldız blamed cats for power outages that occurred on polling day.
The power outages took place in 22 provinces on the night of March 30. Allegations of election fraud were rampant following the local elections, with observers documenting many discrepancies between the numbers recorded at polling stations and those finally entered into the YSK system. The power outages, which occurred when the votes were being counted, were considered suspicious by many.
In response to public suspicions of fraud, Yıldız said the following day that the blackouts were short-lived, temporary and insignificant in terms of their effect on the vote total. “There were 10- or 15-minute cuts in some provinces and districts. Let us not hide behind electric lampposts," he said.
“I am not joking, dear friends. A cat went into a transformer,” he said, without specifying which transformer.(Cihan/Today's Zaman)
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