News Center- Hundreds of transported soldiers and police officers casted their votes in the local elections in Bedlîs (Bitlis). In the city, the AKP received 8,900 votes while the People's Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) received 8,702 votes in the local elections held on March 31.

The DEM Party tried to submit an objection to local election results in the city; however, it faced obstacles; the building of the Provincial Election Board and the building of the DEM party were blockaded by the police. The police attacked the people trying to go to the building of the Provincial Election Board by using tear gas and water cannons.

DEM Party MP Hüseyin Olan reacted to the police attack and said, “We want to submit our objection; however, the police prevent us. We are prevented from using our legal rights. Nothing can prevent us from demanding our rights and protecting the will of people.”

As the tension in the city continued for a while, the police tried to detain Nezir Karabaş, DEM Party’s co-mayoral candidate for Bitlis. After people reacted to the police, Nexir Karabaş was not detained.

At least six people detained

After the police attack, Nezir Karabaş said, “In the local election on March 31, we did not compete against the AKP but the state. We have documented that 600 police officers were transported from different cities such as Rize, Trabzon and Yozgat and they casted their votes in our city. The AKP did not receive votes from the people of Bitlis.” According to the received reports, at least six people were detained by the police in the city. 

Today, the DEM Party has submitted an objection to the Provincial Election Board for a recount of 2,018 invalid votes in Bitlis.