Police and security forces should not routinely be inside (or in the immediate vicinity of) the polling station as this may have an intimidating effect on voters, especially in countries with a rather poor democratic tradition or in (post-)conflict situations. As a rule, the police should only be allowed to enter the polling station when requested to do so by the chairperson of the respective electoral commission so as to secure order. Furthermore, police and security forces should carefully avoid behaving in an intimidating manner towards voters, as was the case, for instance, during the 2018 presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey. This underlines the importance of political commitment, clear instructions and appropriate training of electoral officials on the one hand, and police and security forces on the other.