Electronic election applications: A comparative analysis and recommendations for Türkiye

Democracy is one of the most important elements of today's political order. Democracy has evolved and transformed throughout history. With the development and widespread adoption of information and communication technologies worldwide, a new model of democracy—electronic democracy—has emerged. The most important characteristic of electronic democracy is that political participation takes place electronically. Various e-voting models have been implemented in many countries. These countries have implemented e-voting and have gained significant experience. The primary objective of this study is to address the research question, "Can an e-voting model be developed for Turkey based on global examples?" and to offer some suggestions on the feasibility of an e-voting system for Turkey, inspired by the models of countries that have experienced e-voting. To this end, the study examines e-voting models implemented in Brazil, Estonia, the Philippines, India, Spain, and Switzerland, based on the countries' level of democratic development, the feasibility of e-democracy, the stability and success of e-voting, and their populations and political structures. The methods used in the study are comparative, document analysis, and descriptive. The main conclusions reached in the study are as follows: When examining e-election systems worldwide, it is clear that each system requires many years of effort to build. However, the most significant problem in e-election systems is the security and reliability of the system. For Turkey, e-elections are currently possible, albeit limited due to current legal regulations. However, the most significant challenge is the difficulty of creating a system that will earn public trust. The most fundamental way to achieve this is to integrate verifiability and auditing mechanisms into the system. Considering Turkey's general political and social structure, the construction of the system requires many years of work and should begin with pilot applications in a small area.