Main opposition party on Monday urged the country's electoral board to cancel the results of a landmark referendum that granted sweeping new powers to the nation's president, citing what it called substantial voting irregularities.
"There is only one way to end the discussions about the vote's legitimacy and to put the people at ease, and that is for the Supreme Electoral Board to cancel the vote," Bülent Tezcan, deputy chairman of the Republican People's Party, said.
An unprecedented electoral board decision to accept as valid ballots that didn't bear the official stamp has led to outrage. Normally, for a ballot to be considered valid, it must bear the official stamp on the back, be put into an envelope that also bears an official stamp and be handed to the voter by an electoral official at a polling station. The system is designed to ensure that only one vote is cast per registered person and to avoid the possibility of ballot box-stuffing.
Tezcan, at the headquarters of CHP in Ankara, said that ‘The elections must be cancelled due to the unstamped ballots and envelopes’. He stated that, as of yet, the detection of the unstamped and invalid ballots and envelopes has become impossible.
Tezcan also mentioned that YSK did not assure the conditions for secure elections and declared that CHP would resort to the Constitutional Court, if necessary, to European Court of Human Rights.
