'We will not let your votes be stolen'

With fraud and impropriety at the ballot box facilitated thanks to the “Alliance Law”, threats to electoral integrity have become a critical matter for the opposition parties and voters. Will the votes cast by opposition voters who in three days’ time will go to the polls to elect members of parliament and the president be counted and recorded correctly? What guarantees can the opposition give the electorate against all manner of fraud and impropriety? Where are they in their preparations to counter electoral theft? How will deterrence be brought to bear on fraudsters? Yesterday, I posed these questions to CHP General Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on a private plane that was taking him to Ordu to meet civil society and professional organisations as part of the election campaign. He had the following to say:

“We have made great strides when it comes to ensuring electoral integrity. Our Deputy General Chair Istanbul MP Onursal Adıgüzel is conducting coordination over electoral integrity with civil society organisations and the political parties outside the People’s Alliance. A great many meetings have been held. We have a sound and robust cooperation. And our Party Assembly Member Mehmet Ali Çelebi is handling coordination with citizen volunteers. We have identified issues at 30,000 ballot boxes and are concerning ourselves with these ballot boxes. There is a particular issue with ballot boxes in Şanlıurfa. We have also assigned tasks to our MPs and are taking special measures and safeguards. We have set up an Electoral Integrity and Coordination Centre. Local organisations have been rolled out in the provinces modelled on this centre. We are doing all this so that citizens can go to the polls with assuredness and perform their citizenship duty.

It is enough for them to go to the polls and vote. We will not let your votes be stolen. It is very important for them to go the polls with assuredness; they will determine their own futures.” Kılıçdaroğlu says, “Polling station officials and witnesses must not leave the ballot boxes and voters must look out for the ballot boxes in their localities where they vote, too.” On the other hand, from what I have gleaned from CHP circles, the scenario the party is focusing on most in terms of taking countermeasures involves the Anadolu Agency. This entails the Anadolu Agency proclaiming Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s victory in the presidential election in the first round at an early hour while the votes are still being counted. Subsequently, Erdoğan will seize the opportunity to make a balcony speech while vote counting is still in progress. This may create a pretext that enables the ruling party to distract attention from the counting of the parliamentary votes. If witnesses and polling station officials depart this will create a conducive environment for fraud and impropriety.

“Do not be surprised if we import hazelnuts, too”

At the meeting in Ordu at which CHP General Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu came together with members of civil society organisations, he criticised the government’s agricultural policy. Stressing that Turkey had come to the point of importing hay, Kılıçdaroğlu noted, “Had I come to you ten years ago and made a speech at the Ordu Chamber of Commerce and Industry and said, ‘Friends, it will not be long before Turkey imports hay,’ you would have said, ‘This General Chair is off his rocker.’ I will now tell you another thing. Agriculture is a strategic sector in all countries of the world. Turkey numbers among self-sufficient countries. What has happened that Turkey is nowadays importing wheat, barley, oats, meat, beans, lentils and livestock? Do not be surprised if we soon import hazelnuts. A big game is being played over Turkey’s agriculture. The dominant forces are playing this game.” Also addressing heads of quarters and villages, Kılıçdaroğlu indicated that they were preparing a “basic headship law.” In the portion of the meeting that was closed to the press, Kılıçdaroğlu responded to civil society organisation representatives’ questions.