Calls for referendum annulment rise in Turkey
Turkey's electoral board is being inundated with annulment petitions from political opposition and citizens alike as allegations of cheating and intimidation continue in the aftermath of the country's vote to grant its president sweeping new powers.
Allegations of fraud in Turkey’s April 16 referendum show no signs of abating despite government denials that any irregularity occurred.
Today, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) petitioned the Supreme Electoral Board (YSK) for the vote on boosting the powers of the presidency to be annulled.
CHP Deputy Chairman Bulent Tezcan, who lodged the appeal, called the referendum “organized vote theft.” He was referring in particular to the board’s controversial last-minute decision to breach its own rules and accept ballots without official seals. The opposition charges it did so to clear the path for cheating. The amendments squeaked through with a razor-thin margin at 51%.
Aykan Erdemir, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former CHP member of parliament, said the YSK's actions coupled with reports from the field point to “reckless fraud carried out with impunity.”
