User blog comment:Stelionas747/TURKISH REFERENDUM TOMMOROW/@comment-26898492-20170419015628/@comment-26247925-20170419103111

The referendum was awful.


 * 1) They allowed unofficial votes. 1.5 million of them. They made that decision after the latest polls showed that the No vote was winning.
 * 2) They didn't put the referendum question on the ballot. That meant people were going in, not knowing what they were actually voting for.
 * 45,000 oppositionists were arrested, 130,000 public servants were dismissed, "no" campaigners were threatened and called terrorist sympathizers.
 * 1) The "yes" campain was run by Erdogan, and Erdogan runs state-run media, so there was almost no coverage on the no campaign. This was essentially censorship of the opposition.
 * 2) The Turkish government displaced many Kurds, which meant that they could not vote. Since most Kurds hate Erdogan, he knew that they would vote no.
 * 3) 37 percent of the ballots were improperly sealed and uncertified.
 * 4) There was no transparency. International groups were barred from monitoring and reporting on the referendum. About 150 journalists are in jail, more than any other country, and about 160 media outlets were shut down.
 * 5) Police and local officials barred "no" campaigners from using public services and holding rallies. Police were checking identification cards in voting stations, and often getting violent with "no" campaigners.

Basically, the referendum was a massive sham. There is widespread evidence of voter suppression, and the authorities manipulated the casting and counting of the ballots.

He's not just blaming everything to be rigged. There is hardline evidence to back it. And no, not everyone loves him. The Kurds hate him. Most people living in all major cities and populous areas hate him. Literally, the only people he gets support from are the people living in rural areas who get hypnotized by his state-run propaganda machine.