‘Ballot papers could have been printed at home’

On Sky News, 17 April 2017, following the previous day’s executive presidency referendum in Turkey which resulted in an unofficial Yes result.

“Ballot papers need to carry an official seal. That seal is from the president of the polling station, the person who’s in charge of running things around that ballot box.

“What the election authorities in Turkey said yesterday, just as the ballot boxes were closing, was that any ballot that does not carry that official seal will be considered valid.

“That notionally means that somebody could at home have printed reams and reams of ballot papers, pre-stamped them Yes, and forced them into people’s hands as they entered the polling station – which does infringe on the privacy of the ballot box and makes the result potentially not healthy.”