In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's candidacy for the head of state post for a third time has become a main topic on the agenda in recent days.
Modern.az reports that the snap election scenario, which has been unofficially discussed in Ankara for a long time, has now been openly confirmed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
A few days ago, AK Party Deputy Chairman Mustafa Elitaş announced that snap elections would be held in November 2027 (Note that the elections are planned for May 2028), thereby moving the discussion to the official political sphere. AK Party Deputy Chairman for Organizational Affairs Ahmet Büyükakgümüş confirmed in an interview on February 22 that the goal is for Erdoğan to run again and win.
Thus, the party leadership is preparing to propose holding the elections in November 2027 instead of May 2028. This step could make Erdoğan's re-candidacy legally possible.
According to the Turkish Constitution, the current president can only be a candidate for a third time if the parliament decides on snap elections with 360 votes. Currently, the AK Party has 275 seats in parliament, and its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), has 47 seats. Without additional support for the ruling bloc, which totals 322 votes, the required 360 votes do not seem possible. For this reason, deputy transfers in both the ruling and opposition camps have attracted attention in recent weeks.
Political observers believe that the AK Party is trying to bring back deputies who previously left the party to form political entities such as “Gelecek” (Future) and DEVA. The rejoining of several deputies to the AK Party in recent months is considered part of this strategy. In Ankara, this process is conditionally characterized as a “return home” operation.
Another possible scenario is an agreement with the DEM Party. DEM is represented in parliament with 56 seats and is considered one of the important participants in the “Turkey without terror” process initiated by the government in the last two years. Experts do not rule out that the parties could agree on certain changes without touching the first four articles of the Constitution. In this case, DEM's political weight would significantly increase.
The opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) also does not adopt a completely closed stance on the issue of snap elections. The party leadership had previously voiced the idea of holding early elections and stated that it would not object to Erdoğan's participation under certain conditions. This brings to the forefront the possibility of a tactical agreement between the ruling party and the opposition in Ankara's political circles.
The ruling camp believes that a large part of the consequences of the 2023 earthquake have been eliminated and that stabilization in economic indicators can be achieved in 2026–2027. Within the AK Party, there is a conviction that precisely that period will be more favorable for elections.(haqqin.az)
