Turkish presidential election, 2007
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The 11th President of Turkey will be elected by the Turkish Grand National Assembly from 1 May 2007 onwards (in at most four rounds of voting), before Ahmet Necdet Sezer's term expires on May 16, 2007. This is also the date when his successor will be sworn in.[1]
[edit] Procedure
Should the voting system remain unchanged from the last election, the presidential vote will be held among MPs in parliament by secret ballot. A candidate requires a two-thirds majority - or 367 votes - to be elected in the first two rounds. If there is no clear winner before the third round, the winning threshold is dropped to a simple majority, or 276 votes. If there is still no winner, the two candidates with the most votes from the third round progress to a runoff election, where the simply majority rule still applies. In the event of no clear winner among the two, the Turkish constitution states that a snap general election must be called to overcome the parliamentary deadlock.
[edit] Potential candidates
No individuals have officially declared their interest, although a number of active politicians are considered to be strong potential candidates:
- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, prime minister, Justice and Development Party.[1]
- Bülent Arınç, parliament speaker, Justice and Development Party.
- Deniz Baykal, main opposition leader, Republican People's Party.[2]
- Abdüllatif Şener, state minister, Justice and Development Party.
Other individuals are considered to be potential compromise candidates:
- Hikmet Çetin, former foreign minister and NATO civilian representative in Afghanistan.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Bozkurt, Göksel. "Political scenarios for 2007", Turkish Daily News, 2007-01-07. Retrieved on 2007-01-15.
- ^ Vincent, James (2006-12-10). Reforming Republican People. Retrieved on 2007-01-15.