Referendum result is dubious, says main opposition CHP leader

ANKARA

The referendum result is dubious and the office that cast doubt on the referendum is the Supreme Board of Elections (YSK), main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said, accusing the election watchdog of violating the constitution and manipulating the poll results.

“YSK has violated the law. It has not fulfilled its duty. It seems that it is granted power not from the constitution or the rule of law, but from a certain center; a certain political authority. The power given by a certain political authority is not legitimate, it is a betrayal to the constitution,” Kılıçdaroğlu said at a CHP parliamentary group meeting on April 18.

Slamming YSK’s earlier decision that deemed unsealed ballots valid on the referendum, Kılıçdaroğlu accused the members of the top election board for being influenced by a political authority. He said the decision was against the bylaw which “clearly states that the unsealed ballots will not be deemed valid.”

“Article 101 of the election law says that ballot papers without the seal of the YSK are invalid. It says invalid, what else could it state,” he said.

“If you are making decisions in accordance with the political will that appointed you to that post, take that judicial robe of yours off and leave that institution,” Kılıçdaroğlu added, stressing that the referendum results did not reflect the national will.

“We cast a ballot with our conscience and our moral, and we said ‘no’ with more than 50 percent of the votes at the ballot boxes,” he said.

He also criticized YSK for being vague and not declaring the official decision on the unsealed papers, stating that his party will make the necessary objections. 

“This election is called the unsealed election. This referendum does not have a seal,” he said.


‘History won’t write about the thieves’

“The one who has the horse has long gone to Üsküdar,” Erdoğan had previously said, referring to a Turkish idiom said by 16th century poet Köroğlu. 

Erdoğan’s comments implied the results were officially out and there was nothing Kılıçdaroğlu could do but accept it.

“The one who has long gone to Üsküdar was Köroğlu who got his stolen horse back. The history writes about Köroğlu, not the thieves who stole the horse,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

The idiom is based on an anonymous epic by Köroğlu who takes back his stolen horse from local sellers by tricking them, but when the local sellers try to chase him, one local says, “The one who has the horse has long gone.”