Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could legally seek a third consecutive term in office in the 2028 elections under an exceptional constitutional provision, Mehmet Uçum, a senior presidential adviser, has stated.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, he said the next parliamentary and presidential elections should be considered scheduled for May 7, 2028, rather than May 14, as some analysts and commentators have suggested, Caliber.Az reports.
“Elections must be held before the end of the five-year term [of the president and parliament]. Since the last general elections were held on May 14, 2023, the next elections will take place on the Sunday preceding May 14, 2028. That is May 7, 2028,” Uçum noted.
He stressed that a proposal is currently being discussed to bring the elections forward to April 16, 2028.
“The date we propose, April 16, 2028, is not an ‘early election’ in the political or social sense. It is simply a matter of moving the scheduled elections forward by three weeks. This decision would be made by parliament not three weeks before the vote, but during the period from February 9 to February 15, 2028,” the adviser added.
According to Uçum, such a decision would grant Erdogan, who is currently serving his second consecutive full term as president, the constitutional right to run for office a third time.
He urged observers not to interpret a possible adjustment of the election date as an attempt to manipulate the constitution. Uçum also recalled that Türkiye has previously shifted election dates by several weeks without classifying the vote as an early election.
The parliamentary decision, he added, “does not have to be linked to any exceptional circumstances” or emergency in the country.
“One can confidently expect that the next general elections will be held on schedule in 2028, but on a slightly earlier date. These elections will give our President Erdogan the opportunity to run for office one final time in accordance with the provisions of the constitution,” Uçum emphasised.
By Bakhtiyar Abbasov
