Turkish vote allowed to stand

Requests to annul it are rejected by election officials

ISTANBUL // Turkey’s electoral board yesterday rejected petitions by opposition parties to annul the outcome of Sunday’s referendum on expanding presidential powers because of voting irregularities.

The High Electoral Board voted 10-1 to reject three requests by the opposition. Mehmet Hadimi Yakupoglu, the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s representative at the board, said they would take the decision to the constitutional court and then to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.

Opposition parties are incensed by the electoral board’s decision to accept ballots without official stamps, as required by Turkish law.

International election monitors noted several irregularities and said the decision to accept ballots without official stamps undermined safeguards against fraud.

The electoral board published past rulings on the validity of unstamped ballots. Thousands of people have joined protests in Istanbul and Ankara since the referendum, which the “Yes” campaign won with 51.4 per cent of the vote.

Prime minister Binali Yildirim rebuked the protesters.

“Calling people to the street is wrong and is outside the line of legitimacy,” he said.

“We expect the main opposition party’s leader to act more responsibly.

“The main opposition party not recognising the results is not an acceptable thing.” The Istanbul Bar Association filed a criminal complaint against electoral board head Sadi Guven for “wrongful conduct” and “altering the result of the election”.

A prosecutor will now consider whether to press charges against Mr Guven.