The 16 April constitutional referendum in Turkey has given Recep Tayyip Erdogan the mandate to become an all-powerful executive president.<\/p>\n
According to the preliminary results, 51.4 percent of voters had backed the changes, with 48.6% rejecting them.<\/p>\n
Whilst the closeness of the result showed how politically and socially divided a nation Turkey has become, allegations of irregularities at polling stations cast a long shadow on this narrow victory.<\/p>\n
Turkey’s main opposition party has denounced the result and called<\/a> for a recount.<\/p>\n The day after the vote, The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)\u2019s observer mission reiterated concerns and delivered a scathing assessment<\/a>, throwing doubts on the reliability of the result.<\/p>\n Another criticism<\/a> came from the Council of Europe Observer Mission. They too found the campaign and the vote falling short of genuine democratic process, with \u201can inadequate legal framework and last-minute changes in counting the ballots, as well as a \u2018skewed pre-vote campaign\u2019 in favour of the \u2018Yes\u2019 vote and intimidation of the opposition\u201d.<\/p>\n If amending the constitution to formalize his already widely used de facto executive powers was a way of gaining legitimacy, it produced the opposite of the intended effect.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, the precariousness of his electoral victory did not subdue President Erdogan\u2019s rhetoric.<\/p>\n Calling his flag-waving supporters to the front of his presidential palace, Mr. Erdogan made<\/a> a strongly defiant, rabble-rousing speech.<\/p>\n