‘Yes’ camp ahead in Erdogan referendum
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VOTES in support of constitutional changes to hand Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan sweeping new powers stood at 54.6 percent after three quarters of the ballots in yesterday’s referendum had been counted, state news agency Anadolu said.
A “Yes” vote would replace Turkey’s parliamentary democracy with an all-powerful presidency and may see Erdogan in office until at least 2029, in the most radical change to the country’s political system in its modern history.
The outcome will also shape Turkey’s strained relations with the European Union. The NATO member state has curbed the flow of migrants — mainly refugees from wars in Syria and Iraq — into the bloc but Erdogan says he may review the deal after the vote.
The “yes” number has been dropping as the count comes further west towards Istanbul and the Aegean coast, with Istanbul looking a particularly close race.
A crowd chanted “Recep Tayyip Erdogan” and applauded as the president shook hands and greeted people after voting in a school near his home in Istanbul. His staff handed out toys for children in the crowd.
“God willing I believe our people will decide to open the path to much more rapid development,” Erdogan said in the polling station after casting his vote. “I believe in my people’s democratic common sense.”
Broadcaster Haberturk said turnout was 86 percent. However the opposition People’s Republican Party, or CHP, said a last-minute decision by the electoral board to accept unstamped ballots as valid votes put the vote in question. “We will pursue a legal battle. If the irregularities are not fixed, there will be a serious legitimacy discussion,” CHP deputy chairman Bulent Tezcan said.
The referendum has bitterly divided the nation. Erdogan and his supporters say the changes are needed to amend the constitution, written by generals following a 1980 military coup, confront the security and political challenges Turkey faces, and avoid the fragile coalition governments of the past.
“This is our opportunity to take back control of our country,” said self-employed Bayram Seker, 42, after voting “Yes” in Istanbul.
“I don’t think one-man rule is such a scary thing. Turkey has been ruled in the past by one man,” he said, referring to modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
Opponents say it is a step towards greater authoritarianism in a country where some 47,000 people have been jailed pending trial and 120,000 sacked or suspended from their jobs in a crackdown following a failed coup last July, drawing criticism from Turkey’s Western allies and rights groups.
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