Drama after close Turkish referendum
MANIPULATION: POLL’S LEGITIMACY QUESTIONED
Opposition will appeal results from most ballot boxes due to ‘violations’.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was yesterday celebrating a narrow win in a referendum giving him sweeping new powers that exposed bitter divisions in Turkey and left incensed rivals demanding a major recount.
The referendum was seen as crucial – not just for shaping the political system of Turkey but also the future strategic direction of a nation that has been a Nato member since 1952, and an EU hopeful for half a century.
The “Yes” camp won 51.41% in Sunday’s referendum on a new presidential system and “No” 48.59%, according to near-complete results released by the election authorities.
But Erdogan’s victory was far narrower than expected, emerging only after several nail-biting hours late on Sunday which saw the “No” result dramatically catch up in the later count.
Turkey’s three largest cities – Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir – all voted “No”, although “Yes” prevailed in Erdogan’s Anatolian heartland.
With the opposition crying foul over alleged violations, all eyes will be on yesterday’s announcement by international observers from the OSCE and the Council of Europe who will give their initial assessment of the vote.
“On April 17, we have woken up to a new Turkey,” wrote the pro-government Hurriyet columnist Abdulkadir Selvi.
“The ‘Yes’ was victorious but the people have sent messages to the government and opposition that need to be carefully considered.”
The new system is due to come into effect after elections in November 2019.
In a bid to get back to business after the bitterly contested campaign, Erdogan was to chair a cabinet meeting yesterday at his presidential palace, Turkish media said.
Erdogan declared that Turkey had made an “historic” decision and appeared standing on top of a bus in front of thousands of cheering supporters outside his Huber Palace Istanbul residence on the shores of the Bosphorus.
But the opposition were not content to rest on their better-than-expected performance despite a lopsided campaign in which the “Yes” camp enjoyed vastly greater resources and dominated the airwaves.
Both the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said they would appeal the results from most of the ballot boxes due to alleged violations.
They were particularly incensed by a decision by the Supreme Election Board (YSK) to allow voting papers without official stamps to be counted, which they said opened the way for fraud.
“The Higher Election Board has thrown a shadow on the people’s decision. They have caused the referendum’s legitimacy to be questioned,” said CHP chief Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
The HDP said there were indications of a manipulation amounting to three or four percentage points.