Opposition calls for the annulment of Sunday's Turkish referendum result

Turkey's main opposition party has called for the results of Sunday's referendum granting President Tayyip Erdogan sweeping new powers to be nullified after a narrow win for the "Yes" vote citing unstamped ballots given to voters.


The Turkish electoral board however insisted that the referendum result is valid.  

“Only one way to end the discussions about the vote's legitimacy and to put the people at ease… is for the Supreme Electoral Board to cancel the vote,” said Bulent Tezcan, deputy chairman of the main opposition Republican Peoples' Party (CHP).

It is illegal to count the unstamped ballots as valid, Tezcan said adding that his party had received complaints from a number of regions where people couldn’t vote in privacy, with some ballots counted in secret, as cited by Reuters.

"At the moment it is impossible to determine how many such votes there are and how many were stamped later. This is why the only decision that will end debate about the legitimacy (of the vote) and ease the people's legal concerns is the annulment of this election by the [electoral board]," Tezcan said.

Following the declaration of victory on Sunday, Erdogan's supporters took to the streets to cheer, while opponents stayed indoors banging pots and pans in protest over the vote to bring the biggest overhaul in Turkish politics since the founding of the modern republic, abolishing the prime minister's post and concentrating power in the presidency.

Unofficial results showed a narrow victory with 51.4 per cent of votes cast in favour but official results are due in 12 days.

Under the new changes, most of which will only come into effect after the next elections in 2019, the president will appoint the cabinet and an undefined number of vice-presidents, and be able to select and remove senior civil servants without parliamentary approval.

Reuters