chairperson of the Independent Election Bureau (OKB), explained that the Ministry of Home Af-fairs (BIZA) has filled the void with other recruits. He made it clear that these people were given a crash course to get them up to speed on what it expected from them. However, this puts a lot of pressure on the election process. After about 400 people who were hired to work at a polling sta-tion quit, the ministry organized a new application round. BIZA Director Nasier Eskak claimed that about 1,300 people applied for a job. It is, however, unclear if the new recruits meet the crite-ria. “It must still be determined if these people meet all of the criteria, if they had been rejected in the past, if they have been trained and if they are state employees,” said Sheikh-Alibaks.

The Independent Election Bureau expressed concern regarding the ministry’s ‘quick fix’. Although the same manual and the same trainers were deployed, the chairman acknowledged that the train-ing was done much faster this time. “The normal training took 4 to 5 days but the new people were trained in just 2 days. That is a significantly shorter period,” said the chairman who added that it increases the risk that the polling station workers are not fully prepared to handle the compli-cated situations on Election Day, May 25th.

Sheikh-Alibaks underlines that the OKB will be on high alert at the polling stations. “If these peo-ple are not fully trained, mistakes could be made. It will be up to the OKB to provide immediate assistance.” The OKB deems it as its duty to take preventative actions whenever it becomes neces-sary. The chairman of the OKB acknowledged that people with the necessary experienced will al-so be deployed, he warned that a combination of inexperienced and poorly trained people does not guarantee that things will go smoothly. “We are not saying that the entire polling station will be manned by newcomers but the composition remains a big concern.” The nell prepared to organize the elections. The OKB pointed out that many questions must be answered. “How was it possible for polling stations to become understaffed? Is the quality of the replacements guaranteed? Have the workers who took the crash course been fully prepared for the task at hand?” The OKB assures the nation that it will keep a close eye on the polling stations on Election Day.