Turkish opposition complains of illegal acts in referendum

Turkey's referendum results have been marked by fraud allegations, leaving suspicions about the credibility of the results
Pictured, supporters of the Republican People's Party watch the polling results in Ankara.
Tuesday, 18 April 2017 01:15

Turkey's referendum results have been marked by election frauds, leaving suspicions about the credibility of the results. There has been numerous objections to the dubious voting practices and decisions of the Supreme Electoral Board of Turkey (YSK). 

UNSTAMPED BALLOT PROBLEM

According to the voting regulations of the Supreme Electoral Board of Turkey, each and every ballot paper and its envelope should have been stamped before the polls were opened for voting. If a ballot paper and/or its envelope is unstamped, the vote is disannulled.

Yet, in Sunday's referendum, it had been a last-minute decision of Turkey's electoral board to accept unstamped ballots as valid votes. The board said the ballot papers would be considered invalid only if proven to be fraudulent. This decision had become one of the most disputed issues about the referendum.

2.5 MILLION UNSTAMPED BALLOTS

On the next day following the referendum, MPs from the main opposition party Republican People's Party (CHP) had objected to the decision of Turkey's electoral board.

According to the statements of Sencer Ayata, Istanbul MP of Republican People's Party (CHP), the number of unstamped envelopes is 2.5 million. Ayata calls the decision of validating unstamped ballots a "diabolical cheat", considering that the "yes" votes are only 500 thousand votes ahead of "no" votes.

Kamil Okyay Sındır, the general secretary and Izmir MP of Republican People's Party (CHP), announced that they will keep fighting off the decision of Turkey's electoral board.

Osman Baydemir, the spokesperson of pro-Kurdish party HDP, stated that they will object to referendum results. He said they demand that the exact number of "yes" and "no" votes among the unstamped ballots should be clarified.

HDP also announced from its official twitter account that they will object to the two thirds of ballot box results because according to the data they had gathered, there are around 3 or 4 points of manipulated votes.

Upon the disputes about unstamped ballots, the head of the Turkey's electoral board, Sadi Güven, said: "All the ballots and envelopes that are said to be invalid since they are unstamped are genuine, without a doubt." Güven also asserted that Turkey's electoral board is unsure about the exact number of unstamped votes.

PARTIAL DECISION FROM THE ELECTORAL BOARD

During the mayoral elections of Turkey in 2014, the electoral board of Turkey declared the whole ballot box in a south-eastern district of Turkey (Bitlis-Güroymak) invalid because of the allegations of unsealed ballot papers. The request of invalidating the election results in that district had been made by the ruling AKP MPs there since the pro-Kurdish party BDP had won the elections in that district.