Erdogan's referendum win no clean sweephttp://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/04/turkey-referendum-passes.html?utm_source=Boomtrain&utm_medium=manual&utm_campaign=20170417&bt_ee=/HJCIC8adwTbvKLQa0UH2a9v7aljrw+Sdk4/3jdgK2eKjwavLzCBEj6oYAceyet4&bt_ts=1492450725367Turkey’s April 16 popular referendum amending the constitution to establish an executive presidency passed 51.41% to 48.59%. The results were virtually identical to the estimates of Turkey’s two leading polling firms, Gezici and Konda.
Yet several dynamics suggest the referendum will be anything but the climactic showdown that would have given Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a clear mandate to unify a deeply divided Turkey and prepare the country for his executive presidency. (The amendments do not come into effect until 2019.)
The major problem was that hours before polling stations closed, the Supreme Election Board (YSK), Turkey’s highest electoral authority composed of high court judges, reached a controversial decision. The YSK said that it will count unstamped ballots “unless there is … proof that ballots and envelopes are brought from outside.” The YSK’s seal on ballots and envelopes marks the voting accoutrement as genuine. In past elections, votes would be invalidated if they lacked the proper YSK stamp.
snip
@EC What is your take on this source?
