Early polls indicate referendum ‘yes’ vote, Erdoğan says

ISTANBUL

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Early polls indicate a positive outcome of the constitutional change referendum, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said. 

“There are polls, but it is a little early [to comment]. We see that our people are leaning toward partisan presidency, and are approaching it in a considerable rate. To be frank, we would not participate in such a thing [referendum] if it would not be the case,” Erdoğan told reporters on Jan. 22, before his Sub-Saharan Africa visit. 

“A process that leads to a partisan presidency will be the distinguishing element of this work. Besides that, we believe Turkey particularly needs to make more performance-enhancing decisions for its future,” he added, noting that the new constitution will allow the president to form a new cabinet outside of the parliament irrespective of parliamentary election results. 

“The partisan president [with the constitutional amendment] will have a non-binding process when forming the cabinet. This is of primary importance because the president will form a cabinet outside of the parliament, not from the parliament, and a strong cabinet will be of great benefit for our country,” he added. 

Erdoğan reiterated the importance of the decision of the people. “If our nation will really approve this referendum decision, an election will not take place right after they approve it. There will be an election process after that,” he said. 

“[About] the election, the current situation points toward 2019. In this election, the public will be solicited,” he added.