Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition decries 'coup' by electoral authorities

Supporters of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan celebrate in Istanbul April 16, 2017. REUTERS/Huseyin Aldemir

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition said on Monday that the number of unstamped ballots counted as valid in Sunday's referendum had been enough to swing the outcome of the vote and decried what it described as a "coup" by the electoral authorities. Osman Baydemir, spokesman for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), said around 3 million voters had been affected by the High Electoral Board's (YSK) last-minute decision to accept as valid ballot papers that were not stamped by its officials, unless they were proven to be fraudulent. Baydemir said there were also discrepancies between the data presented by the YSK and data obtained by the HDP regarding vote counts across hundreds of ballot boxes. (Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Nick Tattersall)