“Yes” Camp Emerges Victorious in Turkey’s Historic Referendum

A supporter of a proposal to expand the power of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a picture of the Turkish leader at a rally on Sunday in Istanbul.

Ankara, 20 Rajab 1438/17 April 2017 (MINA) — With almost all the ballots counted in Turkey’s historic constitutional referendum Sunday, ‘Yes’ camp emerged victorious.

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After counting nearly 99 percent of the votes, the Turkish official Anadolu News Agency reported that the unofficial results showed ‘Yes’ camp has won with 51.39 percent — 24,789,242 votes — while ‘No’ had 48.61 percent, or 23,499,390 votes.

It also reported historic 87 percent turnout across the country.

Sunday’s referendum asked voters to choose ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ on an 18-article bill that would see the country switch from a parliamentary to a presidential system, among other changes.

Turkey has seen six referendums on the constitution in 1961, 1982, 1987, 1988, 2007 and 2010. ( T/RS5/RS1)

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Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)