The Van Governorate’s appeal to the YSK to change locations for 224 ballot boxes has been approved. The notice sent to political parties on the matter says 224 ballot boxes in the Çaldıran, Çatak, Erciş, Gevaş, Gürpınar, Muradiye, Özalp, Saray, Başkale and Bahçesaray districts will be moved to “secure zones”.

Ballot boxes to be set up in areas where HDP is strongest are being moved to guards’ villages “for security reasons”, which will affect some 50.000 voters.

HDP Van MP Bedia Özgökçe Ertan spoke to the ANF and said: “As you know, a law was passed on March 13, 2018 with votes from the AKP and MHP. They kept the parliament open throughout the night and prepared this law, which is meant to legalize election fraud that they have committed in every election. One of the changes they brought is the relocation and combination of ballot boxes. Right now, the governorates are using this authority. And the Supreme Board of Elections (Yüksek Seçim Kurulu - YSK) has decided to enable this. With that, there have been decisions to move ballot boxes in 19 provinces with high support for the HDP, which will affect at least 270.000 voters."

According to the HDP MP: "The aim of this decision is very clear. We gave our critiques when they were drafting the law too, this in its entirety is an operation for fraud geared against us. They are laying the groundwork for fraud. They want to direct voters to vote in village guards’ villages, at great distances to their homes. It is clear that there is no decided upon method to transport the voters, and as a rule, this responsibility lies with the YSK. It is the civilian authorities that are tasked with the duties, and the civilian authorities right now are the trustees appointed by the Ministry of Interior Affairs. We know they will do all they can, because their aim is to prevent us from reaching the ballot boxes and to force our party below the election threshold. This is something that will affect the outcome of both parliamentary and presidential elections. It goes against fairness, and has already cast a shadow over the elections’ security and legitimacy.”