The current President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, cannot stand as a candidate in the presidential elections scheduled for June 2023. According to TASS, the Cumhuriyet newspaper writes about this.
The publication mentioned that Erdogan was twice elected president – in 2014 and 2018, so his decision to re-run in the elections is contrary to the 101st article of the constitution. According to the changes adopted in Turkey’s basic law in a referendum in 2017, the same person cannot hold the presidency more than twice.
According to Cumhuriyet columnist Emre Kongar, according to article 116 of the Turkish constitution, a president elected for a second term can run again if the parliament decides to “renew the elections.” 360 deputies of the 600-seat parliament must vote for him, but the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), led by Erdogan, and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which supports it, do not have so many mandates.
“Thus, Erdogan, in order to be able to run for a third term, needs to enlist the support of the opposition,” writes Kongar. According to him, in this case we can only talk about early elections.
Erdogan’s party has previously repeatedly stated that there are no legal barriers to the nomination of its leader for a third presidential term. The AKP indicates that after the adoption of amendments to the constitution on the introduction of a presidential form of government in the country, Erdogan ran for elections only once, so in 2023 he can run again.
Earlier it was reported that Erdogan announced his candidacy for the next presidential term. At the same time, he stated that there would be no early elections in Turkey.
Earlier, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has already announced the nomination of the incumbent president. Turkey’s opposition parties have not yet nominated their candidates. At the same time, former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the bloc of six opposition parties he represents intends to nominate a single candidate for the presidential elections.
The next elections, in which both the president and the parliament will be elected, will be held in Turkey in June 2023. Erdogan won the presidential election in 2014, four years later, in 2018 he was again elected head of state.
