“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.

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)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)