32 Separate Investigations into Irregularities in İstanbul Local Election

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The Anadolu Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has opened 32 separate investigations into alleged irregularities in the March 31 local elections in the İstanbul districts of Maltepe, Ataşehir and Kadıköy.

The Prosecutor's Office launched the investigations upon the allegations of "organized irregularities" by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Voting minutes and identity information

The Prosecutor's Office requested the vote counting minutes and the identity information of the duty holders at the ballot boxes where the alleged irregularities happened.

After the documents reached the Prosecutor's Office, it summoned more than a hundred people, including ballot council chairpersons and the duty holders who performed the data entry of the counting results, to testify as a suspect.

The suspects were asked if "they were assigned for duty in an election before", "how was the distribution of tasks on the election day", "how was the counting performed?", "if the signs on the minutes belong to them or not". (HK/VK)