PACE approves report on June 24 elections in Turkey

PACE has approved the report they prepared on the June 24 elections in Turkey that says “elections were not held under just and equal conditions” by a majority.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) prepared a report on the June 24 parliamentary and presidential elections in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan that details how the elections were not held under just and equal conditions. The report was discussed in the general assembly and consequently approved in a vote.

The report points out that Turkey’s elections were not held in a just and neutral environment and that Ankara ignored the suggestions PACE, OSCE and the Venice Commission have been making for years.

The report, prepared by Olena Sotnyk who headed the observation committee for election offices in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Erzurum and Amed with 28 members, also stresses that HDP’s Presidential Candidate Selahattin Demirtaş was forced to campaign under imprisonment conditions.

Before the report was voted on, MPs gave speeches on their observations and pointed out the irregularities in election offices in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Erzurum and Amed.

The report explains that the committee visited 124 election offices and observed the counting of the votes in 17 of them on election day.