Election board did not do its duty: Turkey's CHP leader

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA

Turkey’s Supreme Board of Election did not do its duty during Sunday’s constitutional referendum, leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) argued Tuesday.

Speaking in the party's parliamentary group meeting in Ankara on Tuesday, Kemal Kilicdaroglu slammed the order of the election board, also known as YSK, to consider unsealed ballots as valid during the referendum.

Kilicdaroglu accused the board of breaking the country’s laws during the referendum. He claimed the election board “does not draw its strength from superiority of law, constitution but from a certain center, political authority.

"The power was drawn from a certain political authority, not a [legitimate] power, which is a betrayal to democracy."

The disputed ballots in Turkey’s referendum are “legitimate”, said the head of YSK.

On Monday, head of the election body, Said Guven, defended the decision to allow votes that did not bear official seals to be counted alongside checked ballots.

Guven had said the “ballot papers and envelopes that were claimed to be void and disputed since the evening are YSK-made, real, legitimate, non-fake ballots.”

Kilicdaroglu said the referendum result was not only a success for his party, the CHP, but everyone who defended democracy.

"This is historic, an epic of democracy. We have made this history together," he said.

Turkish voters went to the polls on Sunday to decide whether to approve changes to the country’s constitution that would usher in an executive presidency.

According to unofficial results, the Yes campaign won with 51.41 percent, while the No votes stood at 48.59 percent. Voter turnout was 85.46 percent.