Home > 1.3.2 Freedom of voters to express their wishes > TÜRKIYE - Joint Opinion on Amendments to the Electoral Legislation and Related "Harmonisation Laws" Adopted in March and April 2018
 
 
 
Download file    
 
 
Paragraph 27
 

Finally, several important safeguards for transparency and election security were affected by the March amendments to the Law on Basic Provisions on Elections and Voter Registers, which may undermine the integrity of the elections. This includes allowing ballots that have not been stamped by the BBCs to be considered valid, a practice which was criticised in the 2017 constitutional referendum (Article 98); the possibility for governors and presidents of Provincial Election Boards to request moving or merging polling stations based on security considerations (Article 14.15); the possibility for voters living in the same building address to be assigned to different polling stations (Article 5); the possibility of any voter to request law-enforcement presence in polling stations, in violation of the recommendations in the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters (Article 82); and the increased access for law-enforcement personnel to buildings housing polling stations (Article 82).