World, Europe

Main opposition to appeal poll result at European court

After unsuccessful domestic appeals, CHP says it will ask European Court of Human Rights to void April 16 referendum result

26.04.2017 - Update : 26.04.2017
Main opposition to appeal poll result at European court FILE PHOTO

ANKARA

After being turned back by the Council of State, Turkey’s main opposition party will appeal the results of the April 16 referendum at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the party announced Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters at Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) headquarters in the capital Ankara, spokeswoman Selin Sayek Boke said, “We faced illegal referendum results after seeing an unverified election. Our priority is standing up for the legal rights of all citizens. Thus, we would like to announce that we will soon apply to the ECHR” to annul the referendum result.

The party has taken issue with a ruling by the Supreme Board of Elections (YSK) to count unsealed ballots.

Following an unsuccessful appeal to the board, the Council of State -- Turkey’s highest administrative court -- Tuesday rejected the CHP’s petition to annul the results.

It is unclear if the ECHR has standing to void the results.

Voters went to the polls on April 16 to decide whether to approve changes to the country’s constitution, shifting it from a parliamentary system to a presidential one.

Unofficial results show the Yes campaign won with 51.41 percent, while the No vote stood at 48.59 percent. Voter turnout was 85.46 percent.

The official results are due to be released by the election board at the beginning of May.

Party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu called it “unacceptable” if more than 50 percent of the people “vote No in a constitutional referendum and this is turned into a Yes by a YSK decision.”

Reporting by Mehmet Tosun; Writing by Ahmet Sait Akcay

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