Turkey opposition party’s formal request for referendum to be annulled over ‘irregularities’
TURKEY’S MAIN opposition party has filed a formal request seeking the referendum to be annulled because of voting irregularities.
Bulent Tezcan, deputy chairman of the Republican People’s Party, announced the move at the Ankara offices of the electoral board.
He said the results of the referendum on constitutional changes are “illegitimate” and the party would use all legal paths to challenge it.
Mr Tezcan said that “we demand the cancellation of this referendum”. The opposition has listed a series of irregularities, but has been particularly outraged by an electoral board decision announced late on Sunday to accept ballots that did not bear the official stamps used to verify they are genuine, as required by Turkish law.
Monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, who also listed numerous problems, said the move undermined important election safeguards.
That drew a harsh rebuke from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and criticism from Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.
“Efforts to cast a shadow on the result of the vote by spreading rumours of fraud are futile and in vain,” Mr Yildirim said.
“The will of the people was freely reflected into the ballot boxes and this business is over. Everyone and all sections – and the main opposition party in particular – must show respect. It is wrong to speak after the people have spoken.”
Opposition CHP head Kemal Kilicdaroglu accused the electoral board of bias and of favouring the governing party. “It is clear that the High Electoral Board is not receiving its power from the people, the law or the constitution but rather from a specific centre, a specific political authority,” he told his party’s politiicans during a speech in Ankara.
He accused the board of “changing the rules mid-game”.
In Ankara, hundreds of people were queuing outside the election board’s offices to submit petitions requesting the board reverse its decision to accept the ballots without official stamps.