Chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Tuesday said they do not recognize the results of a referendum held on April 16 due to irregularities in the voting process, saying the party will never recognize the outcome.
“We do not and will not recognize the [referendum], which will be called by history the “[referendum] without authentication.” The will of the people must be respected, and the [referendum] must be repeated,” said Kılıçdaroğlu in a series of tweets.
“Collaboration between the government and the YSK [Supreme Election Board] enabled a coup against the national will on April 16. We will check each vote and bring all irregularities to the fore,” Kılıçdaroğlu added.
“The approval of unauthenticated ballots by the YSK is clear evidence that the “No” votes won. We will not stop until justice has been served.”
The CHP leader also expressed his thanks to the people who voted despite conditions under an ongoing state of emergency and pressure by the government.
Earlier on Tuesday the CHP applied to the YSK demanding the cancellation of the referendum due to irregularities in the voting process.
A referendum on a constitutional reform package that introduces an executive presidency in Turkey received 51.4 percent of the vote in favor, but some opposition parties have contested the results due to the use of unauthenticated ballots.
CHP Deputy Chairman Bülent Tezcan, who spoke to reporters after submitting his party’s application to the YSK in Ankara on Tuesday, talked about the use of unauthenticated ballots in the referendum, saying that the authenticated ballots were not separated from the unauthenticated ones; hence, it is impossible to predict how many unauthenticated ballots were cast.
“All these negativities create a perfect situation of unlawfulness. The referendum needs to be cancelled because of it,” Tezcan said.
Late on Sunday, the YSK issued instructions that significantly changed the ballot validity criteria and said the unauthenticated ballots were valid.