Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) Türkiye demonstrated a lack of transparency in its handling of Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary elections, and biased state media coverage is a concern, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observers said today.

The OSCE delegation reported that Outgoing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkey’s ruling parties enjoyed undue advantage against opposition parties that faced unequal conditions during the election campaign.

These findings were made public today at a press conference by an observer mission established by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CSSE).

“I note with regret the lack of transparency in the work of the electoral body, as well as the very high bias of the state media and restrictions on freedom of speech,” Jan Petersen, head of the election observation mission, told a press conference in Ankara. ODIHR.

He stressed that the general elections were “mostly peaceful” although there were some incidents, while saying that the ESC functioned effectively. The delegation also praised the high turnout in the elections, saying it was a clear sign of a “strong democratic spirit”.

“The complaints process at all levels of electoral authority lacks transparency and the published decisions of the Supreme Electoral Council, for the most part, were insufficiently substantiated“, the International Election Observation Mission said in a statement.

The second round of the presidential elections in Turkey will take place on May 28 between Erdogan and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, after neither of these candidates passed the 50 percent barrier to win the presidential election. When counting 99% of the votes, Erdogan won 49.4% of the vote against 44.96% of Kilicdaroglu.

In the parliamentary elections, the People’s Alliance, which includes Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), looks set to win a majority.

“Turkish democracy has proven remarkably resilient. These elections were held with a high turnout and provided a real choice. However, Turkey does not comply with the basic principles of holding democratic elections,” said Frank Schwabe, head of the KSSE delegation.

He called on the Turkish government to guarantee freedom of the press, noting that Favorable press coverage of Erdogan and the ruling parties by Turkish state television is tantamount to censorship.

The mission, which included 401 observers from 40 countries in Turkey, also highlighted that members of the pro-Kurdish Green Left Party (YSP) faced widespread intimidation. The Mission did not specify who was responsible for these incidents. Some opposition politicians are under restrictions, added to the mission without going into details.

The delegation urged the Turkish authorities to take concrete measures to ensure higher voter turnout in cities hit by the deadly earthquake in southeastern Turkey in February.

The OSCE mission noted that it would pay special attention to the second round.

Farah Karimi, head of the OSCE PA delegation, called the Turkish authorities’ refusal to grant accreditation to Danish MP Søren Södergård and Swedish MP Kadir Kasirge, who were due to travel to Turkey as election observers, “an unfortunate decision.”

Source: RES-IPE