The head of Turkey's electoral board is defending the decision to accept as valid ballots without official stamps. Supreme Election Board (YSK) chief Sadi Güven said the YSK had decided to consider unstamped ballots as valid unless they were proved to be fraudulent, after "complaints" - including one from the ruling AKP party - that its officials had failed to stamp some ballot papers.
"According to the results, it is the 'Yes' that has emerged" victorious, said Sadi Güven, adding that final results would be issued in the next 11 days.
The "yes" campaign won 1.25 million more votes than the "no" campaign and with only around 600,000 votes still to be counted that meant the changes had been approved, YSK Chairman Sadi Guven told a news conference in Ankara.
The "no" campaign has said the last-minute decision raises questions about the validity of the vote. But Güven said the decision was taken before results were entered into the system, and that members of the AKP and the main opposition were present at almost all polling stations and signed off on reports.
