OSCE international observers published the final report on the presidential elections in Turkey.
According to him, despite the fact that the electoral process was properly organized and that candidates who offered real political initiatives participated in it, in general, during the election campaign, hate speech was used and discriminatory statements were allowed.
Turkish media coverage of the election was biased, and restrictions on freedom of speech in the country provided incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with unequal opportunities compared to other candidates.
The report notes that all applicants were free to campaign. However, supporters of some opposition parties were subjected to intimidation and harassment. At the same time, both the leader of the united opposition, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, and Erdogan accused each other of collaborating with terrorist organizations.
In addition, observers point out that the country's CEC delayed the publication of reports of violations in the first round. In addition, after it ended, Turkey began to actively detain opposition bloggers and journalists. Many TV channels did not comply with the conditions enshrined in the legislation, according to which they are obliged to provide candidates with equal opportunities for campaigning. This applies to both private and public media.
On May 28, the Turkish Central Election Commission, after counting more than 99% of the ballots, announced Erdogan's victory in the second round of the presidential election. 52.14% of those who voted voted for him. In the first round, none of the candidates managed to get more than 50% of the votes needed to win.
