A delegation comprised of HDP Group Deputy Chair Ahmet Yıldırım, parliamentarians Mithat Sancar, İmam Taşçıer, Ertuğrul Kürkçü, Müslüm Doğan and Bedia Özgökçe Ertan, and Ankara provincial administrators appealed to the Supreme Election Board (YSK) for the annulment of Sunday's rigged referendum.

Following their appeal, the HDP delegation made a statement at the YSK building.

Speaking here, HDP Mardin parliamentarian Mithat Sancar said "The referendum took place under a state of emergency. The conditions were unequal. There were many violations. These constituted a violation of democratic rights in elections."

Sancar touched upon the inequality caused by the use of the media and state resources for the 'Yes' campaign during the referendum campaign.

Pointing to serious doubts over ballot box security in such an unfair environment, Sancar said there were evidences of open voting and use of block votes, mainly in Kurdish cities, stressing that this made the referendum lose legitimacy.

“VIOLATION TO DELEGITIMIZE THE REFERENDUM”

Sancar drew attention to YSK's decision to declare votes in unstamped ballots as valid, and continued:

"This decision made it impossible to prove that ballots brought from outside have been used. It is no longer possible to make the referendum legal. The YSK's decision to declare unstamped votes as valid was taken after ballots were opened and counting began in Kurdish cities. We did not even know if there was such a decision, as there was only an announcement on the YSK website. The decision was taken as voting continued in other cities. This has crucial consequences. It is no longer possible to record these votes as 'unstamped.' When polling officials proposed the treatment of such votes as invalid, they faced with the YSK announcement as a response. It is no more possible to know if there are votes were brought from outside. Reports suggest that unstamped ballots were stamped later on. The unstamped ballot issue cannot be evaluated as a simple electoral violation due to all these issues and more other reasons, all of which we cannot count here on by one. It is a crucial violation that delegitimizes the referendum. The referendum is crippled and there is no way to fix it."

Sancar remarked that some violations could be corrected but it is impossible to correct the YSK's declaration of unstamped ballots as valid. He continued: "It is impossible to identify the unstamped ballots and their numbers. It is impossible to identify what percentage of these votes is fake and what percentage is brought from outside. YSK said 'We cannot identify them'. The referendum is void if you cannot identify. Law 101 makes this clear. Unstamped ballots and envelopes cannot be accepted."

"DEBATES WILL NOT END”

Sancar recalled previous YSK decisions to cancel unstamped votes and said "This referendum was not held fairly, nor in accordance with the constitution and electoral law, for which reason voting and counting procedures are also invalid. There is no way to fix this election. The only option is to annul it. These debates will not end if the referendum is not annulled."

Sancar called upon the YSK to not damage the culture of democracy any further, and said "If the YSK does not want to be complicit in this, it should annul the referendum. If not, the 2017 referendum will always remain dubious. This referendum was not held for ordinary changes. It is a constitutional amendment that will change the system. Such a system change cannot be built on the results of such a dubious and rigged referendum crippled with this much lack of legitimacy. Even if it is, such a new system will always be suspicious, dubious and controversial. The YSK should annul the referendum in order not to inflict such a deep wound on Turkey."

Lastly, Sancar called upon the AKP government and President Erdoğan to not raise a building on such a dead foundation and to start a new constitutional process instead.