YSK Refuses to Stay Its Execution and Wait for Decision by Council of State

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Supreme Election Board (YSK) has denied the Republican People's Party's (CHP) request to not announce official referendum results until the Council of the State passed a ruling on the contested results of the referendum held on April 16.

Attorney and former Konya MP of the party, Atilla Kart had appealed to the Council of the State in request of stay of execution with regards to the official confirmation of referendum results until the legal proceedings regarding the appeal lodged against the results were completed.

Kart had also applied to the YSK with the same request. YSK denied CHP's application yesterday (April 24).

What happened?

The referendum on the Constitutional Amendment Package was held on April 2016.

According to the non-official results, the ratio of the "Yes" votes is 51.18%, "No" votes is 48.82% in the constitutional amendment referendum. 24,325,817 electors voted "Yes", 23,201,726 electors voted "No". The voter turnout is 85.46%.

YSK's decision on the day of the referendum to consider the unsealed ballot papers valid sparked debates.

CHP Deputy Group Chair Bülent Tezcan applied to YSK on April 17 in request of the annulment of the referendum results and noted that they would also apply to the European Court of Human Right (ECtHR) after the Constitutional Court.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Vatan Party and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) applied to the YSK to annul the referendum.

The election board denied all three applications.

CHP's attorney Atilla Kart stated on April 21 "as the voting still continued, we applied to [...] the Council of the State".

Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdağ in his statement on April 22 said "No appeal can be lodged to any court/office including the Council of the State or the Constitutional Court against the decisions of the YSK".

Professor of constitutional law, İbrahim Kabaoğlu in an interview with bianet stated that YSK's decision could be challenged before the Constitutional Court and the referendum process before the ECtHR. (AS/DG)