Türkiye may take steps toward making a constitutional amendment to change the 50%+1 vote requirement in presidential polls after Sunday’s elections, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said.
“A step could be taken regarding this matter. It requires a constitutional amendment and we may take action after the elections,” the president said, in response to a question about if he would be interested in changing the law that requires candidates to receive over 50% of the vote, which forced political parties to forge alliances.
On June 24, 2018, Türkiye officially switched its administrative structure through an election and embraced the presidential system, leaving the parliamentary system behind.
Erdoğan also said Türkiye has favorable relations with both the United States and Russia.
Türkiye is “friends with America and Russia and those who are spiteful toward us in the West,” Erdoğan said during a live broadcast with several Turkish television channels ahead of Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
Erdoğan’s remarks came a day after Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, joint candidate for the six-party opposition Nation Alliance, on Thursday accused Russia of being behind video content allegedly discrediting candidates for the presidency in the upcoming May 14 elections.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Friday rejected accusations, saying there can be no question of any interference of Russia in the Turkish elections, and “those who spread such rumors are liars.”
Russia values ties with Türkiye because it takes “a very responsible, sovereign and thoughtful position,” he added.
In Türkiye, the presidential and parliamentary elections will take place on May 14.
On the presidential ballot, voters will choose between Erdoğan, Kılıçdaroğlu and Sinan Oğan. Muharrem Ince, another presidential contender, withdrew from the race on Thursday.
When asked about criticism that he would not leave office following an opposition election win, Erdoğan said that he would consider any result that comes out of the ballot box as “legitimate.”
Earlier on Friday, Erdoğan blasted Kilicdaroglu over his remarks on Russia.
Kilicdaroglu “is attacking (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and Russia,” Erdoğan told a youth event in Istanbul.
Recalling a 2019 interview by U.S. President Joe Biden who said the U.S. could support opposition elements in Türkiye to change the tide of political developments, Erdoğan said: “But you are helpless, a loser.”
“But when you attack Putin now, I’m sorry, I won’t accept it,” he said.
“Because our relations with Russia are not behind our relations with the U.S. at the moment,” he said, adding that Türkiye’s foreign trade volume with Russia is more than the U.S.
