Turkey to hold presidential, parliamentary election on same day

By  Trend

Turkey will tentatively hold parliamentary and presidential election on November 3, 2019, a source in the Supreme Electoral Council of Turkey (YSK) told Trend on December 30.

It is expected that the parliamentary and presidential election in Turkey will be held on the same day, according to the new draft constitution approved at the meeting of the Parliamentary Constitutional Committee of the country.

Earlier, a source in the Turkish Parliament told Trend that the Parliamentary Constitutional Committee of Turkey approved a number of articles in the country’s draft constitution.

The approved articles increase the number of seats in the Turkish Parliament from 550 to 600.

The draft constitution proposes to allow Turkish citizens to run for the post of the MP from the age of 18. Currently, the lowest age limit for this is 25.

One of the approved articles also offers to hold parliamentary elections every 5 years. Currently, the parliamentary elections are held every 4 years.

A Turkish citizen not younger than 40 and with higher education can become president of Turkey, according to the draft constitution. The Turkish president will also have the powers to appoint ministers and replace them.

The newly approved articles stipulate that the president-elect is not obliged to be a non-party nominee.

All the above mentioned proposals approved by the Constitutional Committee must be submitted to the Turkish Parliament’s General Assembly. The constitutional amendments would then be discussed at two parliamentary sessions of the General Assembly.

During the first session, the four political parties in the General Assembly and the government would discuss the proposals as a whole and the articles separately, as well as any motions for amendment. The second session would be devoted only to the discussion of motions on amendments to articles.

If the draft constitution gets more than 367 votes, it can pass directly without the need for a referendum. However, the AK Party, the ruling party in Turkey, has said it will hold a referendum even if none is needed.