Sacked For taking censured column Journalist asks: 'Were the Turkish Elections Rigged?'

Sacked For taking censured column Journalist asks: 'Were the Turkish Elections Rigged?' (economonitor).

I have been asked by foreign journalists several times over the last few days on whether I feel the elections might have been rigged. Homo Economicus does not have feelings, except under special circumstances, but I can give you some numbers:

While the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) maintained its votes compared to the June 7 elections, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP) lost 2 and 1 million votes respectively. Besides, two small parties that had entered the elections jointly in June got 300K less this time.

Last but definitely not the least, there were 1.3 million additional votes compared to June: Of this, 600K were due to new votes (of which 200K were new registered voters) and 700K less invalid votes. Interestingly, more than half of the additional votes were from Istanbul, where the share of invalid votes shrank significantly.

If you do the math, all of this adds up to the 4.5 million extra votes the Justice and Development Party (AKP) got compared to June 7. In other words, the AKP got all the possible votes it could; most of the defections from other parties as well as the additional votes. Add in other flashing red lights, such as the speed of the vote count and early victory declarations in the pro-government media, and you can see why people are suspicious. Hmmm.......Does the Sun Rise in the East? More than once i wonder have they developed a program to manipulate voter results....each time the answer is YES! Read the full story here.

 Related: Statistical study of Turkey’s November election suggests widespread voting manipulation.