The Nation Alliance, Turkey’s main opposition coalition, has disputed the legality of the decision of the country’s current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to run for office again in the May 14 elections, but has decided to launch its internal primary process anyway at the start of talks to announce, in about two weeks, a consensus candidate.
The coalition has thus wanted to reopen a long debate on this question, closely linked to the enormous power enjoyed by the Turkish president at the moment, at a time when some polls declare both sides in a virtual tie and place the Kurdish formations, declared enemies of the president, as a key piece to undo the equality.
The opposition understands that Erdogan was elected president in 2014 and 2018 and, according to the Constitution, he cannot run for a third term. By contrast, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development party understands that Erdogan has served only one term, the one received in 2018, because the country’s political transformation to a presidential model the previous year represented a clean slate on the lengths of time in power.
Legal experts consulted by the Duvar news portal side with the opposition: Erdogan could only appear again in the event that elections were called by Parliament with 360 votes in favor — out of the total of 600 seats in the House –. Such a case could not happen because the government coalition, the People’s Alliance, has only 335 seats, recalls Korkut Kanadoglu, a lawyer specializing in constitutional law.
Thus, and after nine hours of meeting this past Thursday, the Nation Alliance and the six parties that make it up have protested Erdogan’s new candidacy. «It is impossible for Mr. Erdogan to run as a candidate in the May 14 elections, according to the constitutional provisions and the law itself, which leaves no room for confusion,» according to the joint statement reported by the daily ‘Hurriyet’.
Anyway, although for the coalition Erdogan’s announcement is «another dark page in the country’s history» and an «illegal» decision, the opponents have also announced this past Friday the formal start of talks to decide on a presidential candidate «in a way that reflects the preferences of the people».
Further news in this regard is expected at the next meeting of the coalition leaders on February 13, although the coalition has advanced that it will present, at least, its government program next Monday, January 30.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
