Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this Sunday refuted opposition allegations about the illegality of his May 14 presidential candidacy, justifying that the change in the political system will allow him to run for another term.
According to Europa Press, the coalition formed by the National Alliance, the main opposition movement, believed that Erdogan would be committing an irregularity by running for office again, as he has already fulfilled the two terms of office provided by the constitution through the 2014 and 2018 elections to win. elections.
Today, Erdogan stuck to the legal interpretation defended by his Justice and Development Party (AKP), which claims that he served only one term in office, which he received in 2018, due to the fact that the political transformation in the country took place during those presidential elections. brought a new starting point in counting presidential terms.
“Turkey has been transformed into a new system of government by the 2018 elections, which means a redefinition of the system itself. Therefore, the president elected in 2018 is the first president of this new system,” Erdogan said. at a meeting in Denizili province in the Aegean Sea.
Erdogan took the opportunity to criticize the opposition for waiting until the last minute to question the validity of his presidential candidacy.
“I’ve been president for four and a half years. Where has the opposition been all this time?” he wondered.
Lawyers and constitutionalists consulted by the news portal “Duvar” sided with the opposition, saying that Erdogan could only reappear if parliament called elections with 360 votes in favour, out of a total of 600 seats in that Assembly.
Such a situation is far from likely, as Erdogan’s governing coalition, the People’s Alliance, has only 335 seats, said lawyer and constitutional law specialist Korkut Kanadoglu.
Source: DN
