Turkish constitutional referendum comes amid media crackdown
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s electoral board on Saturday confirmed April 16 as the date of a national referendum on expanding the president’s powers, but the main opposition leader predicts he will face an “unfair” campaign process.
The head of the High Electoral Board, Sadi Guven, announced the referendum date a day after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed off on the constitutional changes aimed at creating a presidency with executive powers, which were passed by parliament last month. Guven said 55 million people in Turkey and close to 3 million Turks living abroad are eligible to cast votes.
But with Turkey’s opposition media largely silenced, opponents of the constitutional changes complain that they cannot get their views across.
“The referendum process will not take place under fair conditions. We know that the (pro-government media) will continue to act as though the opposition does not exist,” said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the Republican People’s Party.