Turkey's opposition faces a long struggle with President Erdogan
Opposition parties saw campaign venues cancelled, songs banned and mayors put under pressure ahead of the AKP's narrow victory.
Monday 17 April 2017 12:40, UK
Turkey's opposition parties are bracing for a long and arduous struggle for democracy.
They have but in some sense see the result as a victory given what they say was the immense pressure of the state against them during the campaign.
The opposition HDP Kurdish party say their campaign songs were even banned by the ruling AK party in the southeast of the country.
They take some comfort from the result given that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan failed to get over 50% in Turkey's biggest cities.
Humiliatingly he failed to win even the district where he lives in Istanbul, which might be a sign of a huge shake up ahead inside the AK party.
And across the country the opposition feared the AK party would get at least 10% more votes than it did.
Members of the Nationalist Movement Party who didn't support the Yes vote say they had campaign venues cancelled and in some towns and villages the AK party put pressure on local officials like mayors to push the yes vote.
The leader of the HDP party, Selahattin Demirtas, is in jail along with many of the party hierarchy.
Others in the provinces have been arrested or blocked from campaigning and had their referendum banners taken down.
The opposition CHP is going to object to ballot irregularities - but it has to be said it's hard to see how they will be successful given all institutions are under the control of the government and the AK party.
At the headquarters of the AK party there were celebrations late into the night.
For the AK party it might have been close, but a win is a win.
They see that President Erdogan has a mandate to rule as he promised to during the campaign and since last summer's failed coup - with an iron fist doing whatever he sees fit in the name of the country's security.
For the families of the tens of thousands locked up over the last nine months since the coup attempt - and Turkey's liberals and non-conservatives - there is a dreadful sense of despair at the direction their country is taking.