LIVE: Erdogan declares referendum victory, opposition plan legal challenge
11.52pm
Opposition parties allege fraud, reject result
Turkey’s main opposition party, the CHP, has alleged that actions of the country’s High Election Council call into question the legitimacy of the referendum result.
The High Election Council made changes to the rules and regulations half way through the process, said Kemal Kilicdaroglu after the ‘Yes’ camp declared a narrow victory. “You cannot change the laws of the game during the match,” he said, according to CNN Turk. “The electoral body has made the referendum’s legitimacy disputed.”
He declared that at least half the population rejected the constitutional amendments, as such, the changes lost societal consensus. “The Turkish constitution is the property of all of us and changes to it must be done through agreements,” Kilicdaroglu said.
“The state of law is important and the parliament should have its sovereignty,” he declared.
Kilicdaroglu said he respects the vote of the people but the electoral commission has tarnished the vote.
The ‘Yes’ side gained 51.37 percent of the vote and ‘No’ 48.63 percent, according to the most recent numbers from state-run Anadolu Agency. About half a million votes are still to be counted, according to the High Electoral Council.
The pro-Kurdish party HDP, which like CHP campaigned for a ‘No’ vote, is also disputing the results.
“There were ballot papers without stamps on their backs. This shows no commitment to the laws of the election process,” said HDP spokesperson, Osman Baydemir.
Baydemir added that “more than 600 ballot boxes or so which were transferred for counting were illegal.”
The referendum process took place “under pressure,” he said. The nation is currently under a state of emergency imposed after the attempted coup last summer. Under the emergency laws, Turkish security forces have carried out operations in Kurdish areas and arrested many Kurdish and pro-Kurdish politicians.
Baydemir said his party will accept the will of the people, but the published result must reflect the actual votes. “It does not matter what kind of will was into the boxes, but what really matters is that the same result must come out. We do not have any problems with the will of the people.”
He said that their observers are witnesses of the violations and can identify the boxes containing ballots that were not stamped by High Electoral Council officials as valid.
The Council said it made the decision to accept ballots that had not been stamped, unless they could be proven fraudulent, “because it was not the fault of the voters,” according to CNN Turk.
“This violation is unacceptable and what is announced now is not finalized yet,” Baydemir declared, reiterating that his party “will raise concerns over the outcome until the final result is out.”
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10.50pm
Erdogan proclaims victory after narrow win
Again we say “One nation, one flag and one homeland and one state,” proclaimed the Turkish president after winning a narrow victory in the country’s referendum.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said they are going to make grassroots changes to the parliament and presidency of Turkey after nearly 25 million people across the country voted in favor of constitutional changes in a referendum, changing the system from parliamentary to the presidency.
Erdogan said that it was public opinion which endorsed changing the country’s constitution, pledging to put the presidency system into effect by 2019.
Sunday’s vote to accept the constitutional changes is a success for the nation, a nation that has been succeeding since the July 2016 failed military coup, he said.
“Our nation chose democracy and voted freely,” he said, adding that “many tried to distort the result, but failed to do so.”
The referendum has “determined our future,” Erdogan said, saying the amendments to the constitution were “historical and important.”
But there remains “a lot of work left to do for the Turkish nation.”
Erdogan speaks to a crowd of supporters after the ‘Yes’ campaign won a narrow victory in the referendum.
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10.31pm
Turkish PM welcomes ‘Yes’ result as vote for democracy
Changing the ruling system of the country from a parliamentary one to a presidency will boost the economy and mark a firm stand against the internal and external “foes” of Ankara, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in a congratulatory message after the ‘Yes’ vote pulled out a majority in the referendum on Sunday.
Speaking before a crowd in Ankara where the ‘No’ vote won a majority, Yildirim said, “With changing this system, we will increase togetherness, boost the economy, and gear up efforts to stand against the internal and external foes of Turkey and clear the country of terrorists so as to grow our brotherhood.”
Yildirm added that “the Turkish nation voted for democracy with Yes.”
The vote took place peacefully, he added, saying it “showcased democracy in Turkey to the world.”
The Turkish PM also thanked Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), who alongside Yildirim’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) campaigned in favor of the changes to the constitution that will give unprecedented power to the president.
“Today democracy prevailed, today the nation prevailed,” he shouted as his party’s supporters cheered. He said they had answered their rivals with the victory.
He promised that they will look at those who voted in favor or against the amendments “with the same eye.”
“We greet them as well. With all the differences, we are still the same,” he claimed.
"Those who don't know, will learn it. We are brothers, one body, one nation. Those divisive traitors will learn, we are brothers, we are one body, one nation. My dear citizens, the presidential system which was proposed in a public vote, according to unofficial results, we have the ‘Yes’ result. May God make it fortunate and good for us.”
He hailed a large turnout for the vote, particularly 1,269,000 youth.
'Yes' vote supporters outside AKP headquarters in Ankara. Photo: AFP
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9.34pm
Reports of voting irregularities
HDP expressed doubts over the results being released by the state-run media Anadolu Agency, stating that they had received different results from the Supreme Election Board.
"We announce to the public that, until our objections receive a full response, the outcome of the referendum is not final," HDP tweeted.
CHP announced that they had concerns over some ballots that had not been stamped by officials of the High Electoral Board (YSK).
“The High Electoral Board had failed by allowing fraud in the referendum,” deputy chairman Bulent Tezcan told reporters in Ankara.
HDP has also stated it is worried about the issue of unstamped ballots.
Both parties have declared their intentions to challenge the results of the close vote.
A delegation of the European Free Alliance (EFA) had joined international observers of the referendum. The EFA’s Lorena López de Lacalle tweeted that they were blocked from entering a polling station, and noted the high number of military, expressing concern that their presence may impact the vote.
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8.51pm
Erdogan declares victory while opposition plan legal challenge
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared victory in congratulatory telephone calls to the Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Binali Yildirim and Devlet Bahceli, leader of Turkish Nationalist Movement Party.
State-run Anadolu Agency reported that many world leaders had called Erdogan to offer their congratulations on the result.
With 98.4 percent of ballots counted, ‘Yes’ retains a slim lead with 51.32 percent over ‘No’s 48.68 percent.
The two main opposition parties, the CHP and the pro-Kurdish HDP, have announced their intentions to challenge the vote.
“Whether the official announcement is Yes or No, we will object to 2/3 of ballots. Our data indicates a manipulation in the range of 3-4%,” HDP tweeted.
The CHP will challenge 37 percent of the votes, the party's deputy leader announced, Hurriyet Daily News reported.
“We are stronger now,” Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said in a tweet. He repeated a line from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that there are now more than just five strong countries, referring to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader, Devlet Bahceli, welcomed the results, saying the Turkish nation has approved the executive presidential system with of its “free will,” calling the vote a “great success.”
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8.33pm
Opposition parties challenge results
As the final votes are counted and the 'Yes' camp has a slim majority of 51.32 percent, the two main opposition parties, the CHP and the pro-Kurdish HDP, have announced their intentions to challenge the vote.
“Whether the official announcement is Yes or No, we will object to 2/3 of ballots. Our data indicates a manipulation in the range of 3-4%,” HDP tweeted.
The CHP has reportedly demanded a recount of up to 60 percent of the votes, Reuters reported citing the party’s deputy chairman.
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8.05pm
Voters in Iraq have largely cast ballots for the 'No', contrary to majority of diaspora
Eligible voters in Iraq have voted 65.41% to reject the constitutional amendments while the overall diaspora vote has come in 59.83% 'Yes.'
With 97.32% of ballots counted, 'Yes' has a slim majority of 51.39%.
The Kurdish areas in the southeast and major urban centres have voted 'No.'
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6.59pm
Diaspora vote coming in a strong 'Yes'
With 85.27% of ballots counted from 58 countries and overseas territories, 'Yes' is in the lead with 59.83% and 'No' has 40.17%.
Source: state-run Anadolu Agency
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6:54pm
‘Yes’ lead narrows
With 82.18% of votes counted, the ‘Yes’ side’s lead has narrowed. The interim results now stand at 53.47% ‘Yes’ and 46.53% ‘No’ overall.
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6:29pm
As 61.4 percent of the votes in Sunday’s historical referendum have been counted across the country, the 'Yes' side is still in the lead with 56 percent of the voters saying “Yes” to the changes to the constitution and 44 saying 'No'.
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6:09pm
Many Kurdish areas turning in ‘No’ results, ‘Yes’ ahead overall
With 40.2% of votes counted, the ‘Yes’ side has 59.4% and ‘No’ has 40.6% overall.
In the largely Kurdish southeast, the ‘No’ vote is ahead in many provinces.
In Diyarbakir: 67.7% votes are counted, with 65.9% ‘No’ and 34.1% ‘Yes’.
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5:47pm
According to 18 percent of counted votes across Turkey, 64 percent have said “Yes” and 36 “No” to amendments to the country’s constitution.
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5:34pm
Nationally, 14 percent of the votes have been counted with the following results:
| %65 | |
| %35 |
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5:00pm
Voting stations in Turkey’s referendum have closed across the country. Vote counting has begun.
4:00 p.m.
Voting closes in some provinces
Voting closes in 32 provinces in Turkey's east and southeast as the sun sets earlier in these areas where it began Sunday morning at 7:00 a.m. This means all Kurdish areas have already cast their vote.
The vote will continue until 5:00 p.m. local time in the rest of the country
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2:40 p.m.
Former PM calls for unity after the vote
Former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called for “unity” and “peace” following the country’s historic but otherwise divisive referendum on the constitutional changes. He said that both sides campaigned for their causes in “good conditions” and now is the time for the people to issue their verdict through a “democratic decision.”
The “will of the people has to be respected,” he said, as he hoped that people greet one another the day after the referendum.
He said he hopes that the vote will not lead to “instability.”
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2:43 p.m.
HDP’s Yezidi MP cast her vote
Yezidi member of the Turkish parliament has cast her vote in her constituency of the majority-Kurdish Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey.
Feleknas Uca represents the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) whose key leaders are currently in prison for what the Turkish government claims is having links to or promoting a “terrorist organization”, namely the Kurdistan Workers’ Party who have waged an ongoing three-decades rebellion against the Turkish state, seeking greater national rights to the Kurdish population.
The HDP opposes the constitutional changes that if voted yes wil shift the country’s system to an executive presidency.
Uca is a former German MP to the European Parliament, where she was the world’s only Yezidi MP at the time.
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1:17 p.m.
Nationalist MHP leader: referendum a milestone in Turkey's history
Devlet Bahceli, whose party supports the constitutional changes along with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), said that changes will lay the groundwork for the country’s future policies.
Though the MHP supports the constitutional amendments, it entered into a heated debate with the AKP just days before the referendum as it was rumored that President Erdogan, who will become the head of the Turkish state and the executive branch with a yes-vote, seeks to establish a federal state of Turkey.
President Erdogan was quick to deny the rumors and to appease Bahceli.
“We have been the greatest advocate of Turkey’s unitary structure and will continue to be so. Whether you call it a federation, provinces or whatever, none of these are or will ever be on our agenda,” Erdogan said in a rally in Turkey’s Konya on Friday.
"I would like to state that I am very happy to have been able to perform our civic duties today" Bahceli said, "It is an important turning point in the lives of our people."
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12:34 p.m.
HDP's spokesperson hopes for a renewed peace process
Spokesperson of the main pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), the third party in the Turkish parliament, cast his vote in Ankara.
Osman Baydemir said he hoped that the outcome of the vote will again open the door for the peace process that ended in mid 2015 when the three-decades old conflict resumed between the Turkish state and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The conflict has claimed at least 40, 000 lives, many of whom Kurds.
The HDP campaigned heavily in the majority-Kurdish areas, and the rest of the country for a no-vote to the constitutional changes that it says does not the Kurds in the fist place as it has no article that could address the Kurdish question in Turkey.
Baydemir earlier in the week told Rudaw Turkey’s policy against the Kurds has not changed for the past one hundred years, even though different political parties, both secular and Islamic, have assumed power in different eras. They have all continued the denial of the Kurdish question.
Baydemir, who became HDP’s spokesperson when his predecessor was arrested earlier this year, said that Ankara, like Baghdad, Tehran, and Damascus, has been engaged in atrocities against the Kurds.
“Unfortunately the policies in Ankara are one hundred years old,” he said, making reference to the new Turkish state founded after the end of the First World War.
“They change their presidents, they change their prime ministers, but they do not change their state policy towards the Kurds.”
The HDP’s charismatic co-chair Selahattin Demirtas and his female counterpart Figen Yuksekdag have been in prison for months, along with more than a dozen HDP MPs and hundreds of party officials.
HDP's photo shows Baydemir in one of the no-vote rallies as he wears a scarf with Demirtas picture on it.
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11:55 a.m.
Turkey's president says Turkish people will vote "right way"
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cast his vote in Istanbul. He said that he believes the Turkish people will vote the “right way”, adding that the referendum is not an “ordinary” vote.
He said that Turkey has to change its system so that it can grow fast.
Erdogan said that he is expecting a high turnout.
He had said earlier in the week that “an historic revolution” will take place as people head to vote on expanding his powers.
“A historic revolution will take place on Sunday. And when the results are announced in the evening, there will be a festival across Turkey.”
If approved by the Turkish voters, it may pave the way for Erdogan to stay in power until 2029 as he would have the right to stand in the presidential elections for two more five-year terms under the new constitution
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11:43 a.m.
CHP leader: hope no-vote prevail
The leader of the the Republican People's Party (CHP), the main opposition that opposes the constitutional changes, has cast his vote.
Kemal Kılıcdaroglu told reporters that though they hope a no-vote will prevail, but they respect the outcome.
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11:06 a.m.
No question on ballot paper,only two words in Turkish that read, 'Evet' or 'Yes' and 'Hayir' or 'No' in #Turkey's referendum. pic.twitter.com/dS3Cs3H566
— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) April 16, 2017
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10:47 a.m.
PM Yildirim: We respect the outcome either way
Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said he respects the will of the Turkish voters whatever way they vote as he cast his vote in western city of Izmir. The new set of constitutional changes will abolish the role of the prime minister as the president will assume all of its powers.
"Whatever the result is, we will hold it in high esteem. The decision of our nation is the most beautiful decision," Yildirim said.
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A vote like no other
DIYARBAKIR, – Turkish voters headed to the ballot Sunday morning to determine the future of the country in an historic vote like no other. Nearly one century on since the birth of the new Turkish state, more than 55 million voters are asked whether they want to keep the current parliamentary system, or change it to an executive presidential system with unprecedented powers in the hands of the president.
The vote comes about a year after a failed coup that attempted to overthrow the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) that has been ruling the country since early 2000s, and under a state of emergency that has been in place since last summer.
The AKP, its ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan argue that a presidential system works best in the interest of the country's development and stability.
Their critics however, the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), and the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), say that the constitutional change could lead to an ever increasing authoritarian regime under the current president.
HDP also say that the new constitution does not include any articles that may improve the lives of the Kurdish population who have for decades campaigned for greater rights, and more than often their demands have been met with an iron fist from the country’s security forces.
The HDP’s charismatic co-chair Selahattin Demirtas and his female counterpart Figen Yuksekdag have been in prison for months, along with more than a dozen HDP MPs and hundreds of party officials.
Yuksekdag has already being convicted in the court for alleged links to a “terrorist” organization, and as such she is barred from voting today. Her counterpart Demirtas though will cast his vote in the prison.
Many of the municipalities won by the pro-Kurdish regional party in the last elections are now run by trustees appointed by the Turkish government.
The prison population, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency, has increased by 127 percent since the November 2015 elections, mainly because of the purge that followed the failed coup.
Constitutional changes
The CHP and HDP fiercely oppose the constitutional reforms, which number 18 articles in total, and aim to found a presidential system in place of the current parliamentary system.
The CHP has said that the changes amount to a regime change, a phrase that the president has strongly opposed.
If approved by the Turkish voters, it may pave the way for Erdogan to stay in power until 2029 as he would have the right to stand in the presidential elections for two more five-year terms under the new constitution.
The proposed constitution also allows for the president to maintain ties to a political party. President Erdogan was obliged to officially give up leading the ruling AKP when he became president in 2014, in line with the current constitution.
Under the new constitution, the president would have the power to propose the country’s annual budget proposal to parliament, and replace Turkey’s Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors with a new body of just 13 members, three of whom would be named by the president, while the rest would be elected by the parliament, chaired by the justice minister under the new name of the Judges and Prosecutors’ Council.