ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Latest on Turkey’s referendum on presidential powers (all times local):
12:50 p.m.
Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party has called on the country’s electoral board to cancel Sunday’s referendum that approved a proposal to grant sweeping powers to the nation’s president.
Bulent Tezcan, deputy chairman of the party known by its Turkish acronym CHP, cited irregularities in the conduct of the vote.
He said there was “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.”
The board’s unprecedented decision to accept as valid ballots that didn’t bear the official stamp has led to outrage among opposition parties.
Tezcan said it was not possible for authorities to determine how many ballot papers may have been irregularly cast.
___
12:45 p.m.
Bulent Tezcan, deputy chairman of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party, is citing irregularities in Sunday’s referendum which approved constitutional changes that will grant the country’s president greater powers.
The party has said it will contest the result of the referendum.
Tezcan told reporters in Ankara Monday that counting of the ballots initially took place in secret in several polling stations. He said observers were not allowed to watch the proceedings for at least 1½ hours until the party’s complaint was accepted.
He also said an unprecedented decision by the country’s electoral board to accept as valid ballots that didn’t bear the official stamp was taken following a complaint by an official from the governing party.
“It was implemented at a moment when it was felt that the no votes were ahead of the yes votes,” Tezcan said.
___
12 noon
Germany has called on the Turkish government to engage in a “respectful dialogue with all political and civilian forces of the country” after “the narrow outcome of the referendum showed how deeply Turkish society is divided.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said in a joint statement Sunday the German government respects the Turkish people’s right to decide over their constitution. But the two German leaders also said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan carries “big responsibility” for the country’s next steps.
They pointed out that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe had already last week expressed doubt about the whether the conditions for the vote were fair. Merkel and Gabriel said that Turkey — as an OSCE member and European Union candidate country — needs to consider these concerns.
___
11:20 a.m.
The head of Turkey’s electoral board has rejected suggestions of fraud in Turkey’s referendum that will grant the president vast new powers.
Two opposition parties have complained of a number of irregularities in Sunday’s vote, including an electoral board decision to accept as valid ballots that did not bear the official stamp.
Sadi Guven, who heads the Supreme Electoral Board, defended the decision, telling reporters Monday that it was taken to ensure that voters who were by mistakenly given unstamped ballot papers would not be “victimized.”
He insisted none of the ballot papers that were declared as valid was fake or fraudulently cast.
___
10 a.m.
Turkey’s main opposition party is preparing to contest the results of a referendum that gave a narrow victory to President Tayyip Erdogan’s wishes to greatly expand the powers of his office.
The “yes” vote got 51.41 percent in Sunday’s referendum, while the “no” vote got 48.59 percent, according state-run Anadolu Agency’s results. Turkey’s electoral board confirmed the “yes” victory.
Oposition parties complained of a number of irregularities in the voting, including an electoral board decision to accept as valid ballots that did not bear the official stamp.
Legislator Utku Cakirozer told the AP that his Republican People’s Party would on Monday file objections to results at local electoral board branches, before taking their case to the Supreme Electoral Board.
Cakiozer said: “At the moment this is a dubious vote.”
