Erdogan ahead in referendum after most votes counted

Turks have voted to grant its president Recep Teyyip Erdogan sweeping new powers, partial official results in a referendum indicate.

State-run Anadolu news agency said that votes in favour of allowing 18 constitutional changes stood at 57% with just over half of ballots counted.

The changes would replace Turkey's parliamentary system of government with a presidential one and could see Erdogan remain in office until at least 2029.

Under the proposals, the office of prime minister would be abolished, allowing the president to draft the budget, declare a state of emergency and issue decrees overseeing ministries without parliamentary approval.

Erdogan has insisted the changes are necessary to amend the current constitution, which was written by generals following a military coup in 1980, to confront security and political challenges in Turkey and avoid fragile coalition governments of the past.

However, critics fear that the move would make the president too powerful, rendering Turkey's system a one-man rule, without the checks and balances of other presidential systems.

After casting his vote in a school near his home in Istanbul, Erdogan said: "God willing I believe our people will decide to open the path to much more rapid development.

"I believe in my people's democratic common sense."

Three people were shot dead near a polling station in the south-eastern province of Diyarbakir, reportedly during a dispute over how they were voting.

A statement on the High Electoral Board's website hours before polls closed said it would count ballots that had not been stamped by officials as valid unless they could be proved fraudulent.

That triggered strong criticism from the main opposition People's Republican Party, which said the decision caused a serious legitimacy problem in the referendum.