Supreme Election Council allows Erdoğan to run for presidency again

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President of the Supreme Election Council (YSK) Ahmet Yener on March 30 announced that they rejected the objections against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's candidacy for the presidency again. 

Previously, İYİ (Good) Party, DEVA Party, Future Party, Democratic Party, and Homeland Party filed separate applications with the YSK, objecting to Erdoğan's presidential candidacy. The opposition parties pointed out that Erdoğan had already served two terms as president which is the constitutional limit for the office.

On the other hand, Erdoğan's chief advisor Mehmet Uçum stated that the presidential elections in 2014 were held under the “old (parliamentary) system” and the elections in 2018 were held under the “new (presidential) system.” The main argument of those who defend this view is that everything has been “reset” with the new system initiated after the 2017 referendum consolidating the presidential system.

After the YSK’s approval of Erdoğan’s candidacy, İYİ Party General Secretary Uğur Poyraz stated: “Those in power have tried to interpret the Constitution in line with their own, or rather one person's, views, wishes, beliefs, and even ideologies."

With the YSK’s decision, four politicians are officially running in Turkey's 2023 presidential elections: ruling People’s Alliance candidate Erdoğan, opposition bloc Nation Alliance’s candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Homeland Party leader Muharrem İnce, and far-right ATA Alliance’s candidate Sinan Oğan.

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