Ten people who were detained while protesting alleged fraud in the announcement of the results of the parliamentary and presidential elections held on May 14 have been released, Turkish Minute reported, citing the Mezopotamya news agency.
A group of 10 protestors was detained late on Tuesday when police intervened in their “democracy watch” held in front of the Supreme Election Board’s (YSK) provincial and central district office in Ankara.
They were reportedly protesting a discrepancy between the election results released by the YSK and the data from the signed and stamped vote counts.
The protesters were released in the early hours of Wednesday after giving a statement to the police.
Election security has been a significant concern in Turkey, with various issues arising during past elections. One of the main concerns involves the potential political interference in the operations of the YSK and the state-run Anadolu news agency, which could affect the fairness and transparency of elections as well as the announcement of results.
Many criticized Anadolu again for its coverage of the results of the May 14 elections, saying it provided support to the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) tactics aimed at spreading a negative perception among the opposition’s voter base on election night.
The agency has a unique algorithm that initially assigns high scores to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan but eventually evens out the scores over time, a method that undermines the motivation of opposition poll observers who are still monitoring the vote count at the ballot boxes.
