Turkey’s Supreme Election Board (YSK) has re-introduced a requirement that ballots stamped with an official seal in order to be considered valid, according to a statement published in the Official Gazette on Thursday.
Detailing the rules for local elections slated for March 31, 2019, the YSK will now require an official seal on ballots to consider the votes valid.
In a 2017 referendum on an executive presidency and in the 2018 elections, the same board accepted ballots without a seal.
During the referendum in April 2017, some citizens cast their votes on ballots lacking an official seal, while some used envelopes and ballots provided to them prior to the polls, which prompted some opposition parties to raise suspicions about the votes’ validity.