Page 6 The Skanner April 19, 2017
News
Turkish Opposition Party Files to Have Referendum Voided
By SUZAN FRASER and
ZEYNEP BILGINSOY
Associated Press
ANKARA, Turkey (AP)
— Turkey’s prime minis-
ter on Tuesday called on
the opposition to respect
the result of a referen-
dum that will give sweep-
ing new powers to the of-
fice of the president, but
the main opposition par-
ty formally requested to
have the vote voided.
Sunday’s vote gave
President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s “yes” camp a
narrow win for constitu-
tional changes that will
abolish the office of the
prime minister and con-
“
mer. Turkey’s parlia-
ment agreed Tuesday to
extend for another three
months the emergen-
cy powers allowing the
government to rule by
decree.
Bulent Tezcan, deputy
chairman of the opposi-
tion Republican People’s
Party, or CHP, said the
party filed a formal re-
quest seeking the refer-
endum’s annulment due
to voting irregularities.
He said the party would
use all legal paths to chal-
lenge the vote.
“We demand the can-
cellation of this referen-
dum,” Tezcan said.
The opposition has cit-
used to verify they are
genuine, as required by
Turkish law.
Monitors from the Or-
ganization for Security
and Cooperation in Eu-
rope, who also listed nu-
merous irregularities,
said the board’s move
undermined important
election safeguards. The
assessment drew a harsh
rebuke from Erdogan
and criticism from Prime
Minister Binali Yildirim.
“Efforts to cast a shad-
ow on the result of the
vote by spreading ru-
mors of fraud are futile
and in vain,” Yildirim
said. “The will of the peo-
ple was freely reflected
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
center, a specific political authority
vert Turkey’s system of
government from a par-
liamentary to a presiden-
tial one.
The referendum took
place under a state of
emergency that was de-
clared following a failed
military coup last sum-
ed several problems with
how the vote was con-
ducted. But it has been
particularly outraged by
an electoral board deci-
sion, announced as the
polls closed Sunday, to
accept ballots that didn’t
bear the official stamps
into the ballot boxes, and
this business is over. Ev-
eryone and all sections
— and the main opposi-
tion party in particular
— must show respect. It
is wrong to speak after
the people have spoken.”
Republican
People’s
AP PHOTO/BURHAN OZBILICI
Sunday vote gives sweeping new powers to the office of the president, effective in 2019
Hundreds of people queue in front of Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Board in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, April
18, 2017. They submit petitions requesting that the electoral authority reverse a controversial decision
during Sunday’s referendum to accept ballots without official stamps. In their petitions Tuesday, the
residents of Ankara said the decision and other reported irregularities were in open violation of the law
Party leader Kemal Kilic-
daroglu accused the elec-
toral board of bias and of
favoring the governing
party.
“It is clear that the High
Electoral Board is not re-
ceiving its power from
the people, the law or the
constitution, but rather
from a specific center, a
specific political author-
ity,” Kilicdaroglu told his
party’s lawmakers in An-
kara Tuesday.
The board’s decision
to accept ballots with-
out official stamps was
like “changing the rules
midgame,” he said.
Hundreds of people
lined up outside election
board offices in Ankara
and Istanbul to submit
petitions requesting the
board reverse its pro-
nouncement.
In
Ankara,
Fatma
Korur, 46, said she was
exercising her consti-
tutional right to object
to “illegal” results. An-
other petitioner, Fusun
Cicekoglu, 61, said, “I will
not accept my ‘no’ vote
be voided and I will not
accept ‘yes’ ballots cast
illegally.”
The referendum allows
Erdogan, who has ruled
Turkey since he became
prime minister in 2003
and then president in
2014, to fulfill his long-
held ambition for a pres-
idency with executive
powers.
The referendum ap-
proves 18 constitutional
amendments that allow
the president to appoint
ministers, senior gov-
ernment officials and to
hold sway over who sits
on Turkey’s highest ju-
dicial body, as well as to
issue decrees and to de-
clare states of emergen-
cy.
The new system takes
full effect at the next
election, currently slat-
ed for November 2019.
Other changes are to be
implemented sooner, in-
cluding scrapping a re-
quirement that the pres-
ident not be a member of
any political party. This
would allow Erdogan
to rejoin the governing
AKP he co-founded, or to
lead it.
On Tuesday, Yildirim
said Erdogan would be
invited to join the party
as soon as the official re-
sults are declared.
“We will invite our
founding chairman to
our party and we will
feel a huge elation to see
him among us,” he said.
Election monitors from
the Organization for Se-
curity and Cooperation
in Europe were seen en-
tering the High Electoral
Board headquarters in
Ankara. Tana de Zulue-
ta, head of the observer
mission, told reporters
that the group had paid
a courtesy call and held
a “cordial” meeting with
electoral board mem-
bers.
Asked to comment on
Erdogan’s rebuke, de Zu-
lueta said: “I don’t have
an opinion. We are in-
vited by the Turkish au-
thorities to observe. We
share our report and we
completed our mandate.”
In Istanbul, thousands
of “no” supporters con-
tinued their demonstra-
tions Tuesday, carrying
banners that said “Don’t
give in” and chanting
“Thief, Murderer, Erdo-
gan!”
Protesters were fewer
in number in Ankara,
where they were out-
numbered by police offi-
cers.
“We are here today for
the sake of Turkey, to live
together, to take a stand
for our votes,” protester
Tezcan Karakus Candan
said.
U.S. President Don-
ald Trump, meanwhile,
ignored the concerns
about voting irregular-
ities and congratulated
Erdogan on his referen-
dum victory.
The two leaders also
discussed
Turkey’s
support for the U.S. re-
sponse to a Syrian chem-
ical weapons attack and
efforts to counter the
Islamic State group, ac-
cording to a White House
summary of their phone
call Monday.
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