​Some AKP deputies caught using ballots for absent deputies

Turkish Grand National Assembly had a meeting to discuss the Retirement Fund Law
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Saturday, 07 January 2017 20:24

Some AKP deputies were caught using ballots for absent deputies on Friday. Turkish Grand National Assembly had a meeting to discuss the Retirement Fund Law. When the voting time came, Levent Gök, the Group Deputy Chairman of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), requested a roll call, claiming that the number of AKP deputies was not enough. The roll call revealed that some of the AKP’s deputies used ballots in the name of some of the absent deputies.

Levent Gök made the incident report, and in the second roll call it was made clear that many of AKP’s deputies were not at the Assembly. Therewith, the Assembly got suspended until Monday.

Then, Gök appealed to the Speakership of the Assembly, stating that “a crime was committed under the roof of the Grand Assembly.” Gök maintained: “There is no doubt that the crime in question was committed as a result of a planned and organized attempt of the deputies of the ruling party. It is not an unusual case that fake ballots were used in the name of absent deputies, and it was also recorded in the Assembly’s reports that the ruling party’s deputies had made similar attempts before. The incident is a disgrace for our democracy.”

Reminding that there will be meetings for the new Constitution on July 9, Gök also prevised the Speakership that the same or a similar incident may be attempted by the ruling party’s deputies on a matter that interests not only civil servants but the whole country, and requested that necessary precautions be taken against such attempts.