Turkey is holding a general election on Sunday not only at a time when critical media outlets are under heavy government pressure, but also when there are significant fears by the opposition about possible electoral fraud at the ballot box.

Just days before the pivotal election, partisan trustees were appointed to take over the management of Koza İpek Holding, which also owns some critical media outlets, based on a controversial court order at the beginning of the week.

There are rumors circulating that the interim ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) may attempt to rig ballot boxes on Nov. 1 to be able to come to power alone.

In the general election on June 7, the AK Party got 258 deputies in Parliament by receiving 41 percent of the vote. It needs an additional 18 deputies, which would give it an absolute majority in Parliament, to come to power alone.

Opposition concerned about vote rigging

Opposition parties have been alarmed by claims that the results of the Sunday election could be manipulated.

Their concerns were reinforced by a government whistleblower who tweets under the pseudonym Fuat Avni. In some of his latest tweets, Fuat Avni argued government figures are holding regular meetings on election fraud and the Anadolu news agency will play a central role by announcing public support as high as 55 percent for the AK Party on the night of the election.

The Cihan news agency, the only other agency that reports on ballot box results all across Turkey, will be subjected to cyber attacks to prevent it from releasing the results of the ballot box, Fuat Avni also claimed.

report Zaman