Another problematic practice is that political parties notify the names of persons in ballot box committees to the provincial and district election boards. This practice leads to events such as citizens being notified as ballot box committee members to the boards by political parties against their will. Citizens in this situation usually find out when they arrive at the ballot box to cast their vote. Some are not able to vote because of the confusion. An observer noted as follows: “At İstiklal Primary School in Cizre, at Ballot Box No. 1042, G.A. was appointed to a Ballot Box Committee by a political party. He was born in 1954, is illiterate and was not informed of the appointment. At Ballot Box 1041 in the same school, R.B. was appointed as a Ballot Box Committee member and had no prior knowledge of the appointment.” Some citizens who have been unknowingly assigned as ballot box committee members by political parties are unable to cast their votes. Impartiality of the State The supervision of public resources and authority during elections by parties and candidates is one of the prerequisites of democratic elections. One of the most widely debated issues during the November 1st elections was the practices of public authorities and the impartiality of the State. Many news reports were covered in the media during the election process regarding the impartiality of the State. Petitions filed with the Prime Ministry, the Deputy Prime Ministry Responsible for the National Broadcasting Authority (TRT), the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Transport under the right to information were shared with the Platform.25 The petitions enquired whether the ministries had issued Circulars to ensure the impartiality of the State. According to the answers given to the applications, in line with Article 114 of the Constitution, among the ministries assigned as an independent ministry, only the Ministry of Transportation, sent a circular to its affiliated agencies and staff to pay special attention to ‘impartiality’. Neither the Ministry of Interior nor the Ministry of Justice issued any such circulars.26 Another example regarding impartiality was the five separate warnings and 4 broadcasting bans issued by the SBE against channels under the National Broadcasting Authority (TRT). All these sanctions were issued due to biased broadcasting.27 The channels under the TRT had been issued 4 warnings and 1 broadcasting ban during the elections of June 7th. On election day, an observer noted: “Voters were transported using the official vehicles of the Municipality.” 25 See Annex II: Petitions Filed under the Law on the Right to Information See Annex II: Petitions Filed under the Law on the Right to Information 27 See Annex IV: SBE Decisions to suspend broadcasting in the process of November 1st elections 26