‘All political parties included in Turkish election results process’
Supreme Election Council (YSK) head Ahmet Yener speaks to reporters in the capital Ankara, Türkiye, May 17, 2023 (AA Photo)


The Turkish election results proceeded transparently with the participation of all political parties, Supreme Election Council (YSK) head Ahmet Yener said on Wednesday.

"The pictures shared on social media have nothing to do with the YSK. Groundless claims aimed to misguide the public should not be given credit," he told reporters in the capital Ankara.

Yener's comments came after the main opposition party said on Wednesday it had filed complaints over alleged irregularities at thousands of ballot boxes in Sunday's landmark elections.

However, opposition party officials said the objections were unlikely to alter the result of the presidential vote, which is headed for a runoff on May 28 between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

Muharrem Erkek, a deputy chair of the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP), claimed that irregularities at each ballot box ranged from one wrongly counted vote to hundreds of such votes.

He said the CHP had formally raised objections at over 2,269 ballot boxes nationwide for the presidential election and 4,825 for the parliamentary vote that also took place on Sunday. However, they represent a tiny proportion of the total number.

Erdoğan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and its nationalist allies won a solid parliamentary majority. At the same time, in the presidential vote, Erdoğan fell just shy of the 50% threshold needed to win outright.