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Woman dies after voting at the poll in southern Turkey

13 June 2011 [17:20] - TODAY.AZ
Sixty-four-year-old Ayşe Akın died of a heart attack after casting her vote in Antalya's Döşemealtı district on Sunday.

Akın arrived at the Mustafa-Ayten Aydın High School at around 8 a.m. with a relative to vote in the elections and climbed to the third floor of the building where her registered ballot box was.

Akın collapsed in front the ballot officials after casting her vote.

Paramedics arriving at the scene said she died of a heart attack and took her to the morgue while the ballot officials were still in shock.

Disabled people vote with difficulty

Disabled and old people faced difficulties during Sunday's voting, as no ballot boxes were set up on entrance levels of buildings used as voting stations.

Forty-three year old Naciye Başgör, who is paraplegic, was shocked to learn her ballot box was on the second floor in Manisa's Turgutlu district. "How am I supposed to vote now?" she asked.

Other voters at the station carried Başgör and her wheelchair to the second floor so that she could vote.

The district election board said disabled people should inform them about their conditions before the elections.

Another disabled person, Mustafa Albayrak, also had difficulty voting in Adana. Albayrak's voting poll was located on the second floor and other people had to carry him to help him vote. "Officials used to put a ballot box in the front yard for old and disabled people," he said. "But they don't do it anymore."

Poll officials wait in vain as villagers boycott elections

Residents of three villages in northeastern Ağrı and Central Anatolian Nevşehir provinces did not go to the polls on Sunday in protest of election promises not kept.

People living in the Hürriyet and Arifbey villages in Ağrı province boycotted the election on grounds that a bridge between their villages was promised in 1972 but nothing has been done since.

Meanwhile, residents of Doyduk village in Nevşehir refused to go to the polls in protest of the never-ending construction of an irrigation dam for their fields. The construction started 45 years ago, the villagers said.

State minister casts invalid vote

State minister Zafer Çağlayan accidentally stamped "yes" on an envelope to put ballots in, instead of the ballot itself in Mersin on Sunday.

Çağlayan was given another envelope to cast his vote in.

Mersin independent parliamentary candidate Ertuğrul Kürkçü said, "Minister Zafer Çağlayan was given a new envelope, which is against the regulations. We will object to this incident."

Voting ends in 10 minutes in village with two voters

The poll in Yolveren village of the southeastern Batman province was the first station to complete voting in Turkey's elections as only two voters turned up.

Ballot box official Ömer Baş said the village had 21 registered voters but 19 of them were in Germany. "We were able to finish voting and vote-counting in 10 minutes because of that," he said.

Independent candidate beats up police officers in Şanlıurfa

İbrahim Binici, an independent candidate from southeastern Şanlıurfa province, allegedly beat up two police officer after arguing with them on Sunday.

Binici arrived at the voting station in Boztepe village and saw two police officers H.A. and H.U. present at the polls.

Binici said the gendarmerie was in charge of security in the village and asked the policemen to leave. The policemen replied they were sent to the village on governor's orders.

Binici allegedly slapped the officers while the people with him beat them up. Binici denied the allegations.

Counterfeit ballots seized in eastern Turkey

Gendarmerie forces caught two men with fake ballots with "yes" stamped on an independent candidate's name in Özalp district of the eastern Van province on Sunday.

It was reported that the suspects were trying to distribute the fake ballots to the citizens in the district.

Three detained in Batman for harassing voters

Three people were detained in the southeastern Batman province for harassing and pressuring voters on Sunday.

The report said a group around a voting station in Batman intervened in the citizens arriving to cast their votes and threw stones at vehicles.

Police detained three suspects on allegations of pressuring voters.


/Hurriyet Daily News/
URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/88064.html

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