The opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has
repeatedly criticised a ruling by the country's top election authority, the
Supreme Election Board, to accept ballots in envelopes without an official
stamp, arguing that the decision left the vote open to fraud.
The opposition party is now set to challenge the outcome of
the country's April 16 referendum on expanding presidential powers at the
European Court of Human Rights.
The pro-secular Republican People's Party is contesting the
referendum over a number of irregularities, including a controversial electoral
board decision to count ballot papers that lacked official stamps.
The decision to take the issue to the Strasbourg-based court
came a day after Turkey's high administrative court rejected its bid to have
the decision overturned.
The vote to greatly increase the president's powers was
narrowly won by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's "Yes" side.
The party launched a bid to annul the referendum last week,
formally lodging a petition on Friday with the Council of State, Turkey's
highest administrative court, after the "Yes" side won 51.4 percent
of the vote.
The court rejected its challenge by majority vote, saying it
could not rule on the election board's move because it was "not an
administrative procedure", state-run news agency Anadolu reported.
Turkish Justice
Minister Bekir Bozdag said Saturday that decisions made by the election authority
could neither be challenged in the Constitutional Court nor the Council of
State.
Levent Gok, CHP's parliamentary group leader, immediately
hit back, accusing Bozdag of giving "instructions" to the judges
before they had made a decision.
Turkey will implement an executive presidency from November
2019, axing the role of prime minister and empowering the president to appoint
ministers.
International monitors, including from the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe, have also noted irregularities in the vote
that gave Erdogan a narrow win.
Lawmakers at the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly
voted to put Turkey on a monitoring watchlist on Tuesday, citing concerns over
what they say is the stifling of dissent and rights violations under Erdogan as
he concentrates his power.
The vote to open the formal procedure against Ankara passed
with 113 votes in favour versus 45 against.
The Council of Europe is a human rights body of which Turkey
is a member.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All rights reserved. This material and any other material on this site may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, written or distributed in full or in part, without written permission from WISEMEN
<===============================================>
WISEMEN is highly honoured to have you as our esteemed reader.
You are encouraged to make comments to any post herein.
However, we shall not be responsible for use of foul language, it is against our professional ethics.
Help build a better Society!