Turkey's main opposition party is preparing to contest the results of a referendum that gave a narrow victory to President Tayyip Erdogan's wishes to greatly expand the powers of his office.
Bulent Tezcan, deputy chairman of the People's Republican Party (CHP), said the party had received complaints from many regions that people had been unable to vote in privacy and said that some ballots were counted in secret.
He said it was not possible for authorities to determine how many ballot papers may have been irregularly cast.
He said the CHP would submit complaints to municipal election authorities and the YSK and, depending on the result of those appeals, would go to Turkey's constitutional court, the European Human Court of Rights and any other relevant authority.
He also took a dig at global critics. Mr Erdogan and his supporters say the changes are needed to amend the current constitution, written by generals following a 1980 military coup, confront the security and political challenges Turkey faces, and avoid the fragile coalition governments of the past.
During the campaign, Erdogan repeatedly attacked European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, accusing them of "Nazi-like" tactics for banning his ministers from speaking to rallies of Turkish voters overseas.
Fighting for votes in every corner of the country, Erdogan kept up a punishing schedule of daily rallies seeking to woo doubters with his indefatigable campaigning. We respect the choice of the people, but the decision of the SEC cast a shadow over it.
Erdogan declared a narrow victory in the vote, which marked the biggest overhaul of modern Turkish politics.
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The officials weren't authorized to speak publicly on the results of the policy review and requested anonymity. After South Korea, Pence is scheduled to travel to Japan, Indonesia and Australia during his 10-day trip.
Opposition parties have argued that the changes, which come into effect after the 2019 presidential election, give too much power to the office.
The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, said the close result meant that Ankara should seek "the broadest national consensus" in implementing the vote.
Initial reaction from overseas was cautious.
The referendum campaign was highly divisive and heavily one-sided, with the "yes" side dominating the airwaves and billboards. Senior EU officials - EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn - said they "take note of the reported results" and were awaiting a report from worldwide election observers. The "no" campaign said it faced intimidation and threats of violence, and independent monitors say that state media slanted coverage in favor of the president.
More than 55 million people were registered to vote, while another 1.3 million expatriates cast ballots overseas.
But the first signs suggested that yet another ballot box win had only emboldened the "chief", as he called on foreign powers to respect the result and mooted a referendum on restoring the death penalty - which would sound the death knell for Turkey's European Union bid.
The country's foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said this was the birth of a "truly new Turkey". Hundreds of demonstrators marched in a central neighbourhood in Istanbul, clanking pots and pan.
Germany's comments were echoed in France, where President Francois Hollande said: "It's up to the Turks and them alone to decide on how they organise their political institutions, but the published results show that Turkish society is divided about the planned deep reforms".





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