Istanbul. Mayis Alizadeh – APA. The Republic of Turkey has launched popular vote to elect the 12th president. APA reports that the election started at 07:00 in the eastern regions and at 08:00 in the other regions.
The president is being elected by the people for the first time in Turkey, after the Constitutional Referendum that took place on October 21, 2007. Till then, the president was elected by the parliament for seven years and was unable to stand for re-election for the second term. The amendment to the Constitution envisages electing the president by popular vote and allowing him to stand for re-election for the second term. The Constitution doesn’t allow a person, elected as the president twice, to be a candidate for the third term.
53 million people are eligible to cast votes in the elections. A public review took place between 2 and 9 July when voters could verify their information in the voter lists at DEBs or online.
140 000 ballot boxes were set up in Turkey and 1147 in 103 electoral centers in 54 countries. The Turkish citizens living abroad voted in the first round of the election between July 31 and August 1. Though 2 million Turks were expected to cast votes, only 248 000 voters attended the first round. It caused the protests of both the government and main opposition party, but the Supreme Electoral Council rejected appeals of the two countries. If one of the candidates does not receive an absolute majority of the vote, voters will be able to cast their votes between Aug. 17 and Aug. 24 for the second round of the presidential election.
Three candidates are running for the post in the first presidential election by public vote.
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) announced Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as its candidate.
The main opposition parties, the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) nominated former head of the Organization of Islamic Co-operation, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu as their joint candidate to run the presidential election.
People's Democracy Party (HDP) officially nominated Selahattin Demirtas as its candidate.
The elections will last till 16:00 in the eastern regions and till 17:00 in the other regions. Preliminary results are expected to be announced at 20:00.
If no candidate wins an outright majority on Sunday, runoff elections between the two top contenders will be held August 24 when a plurality of votes will suffice.
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