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Turkey set to hold a referendum on presidential election system |
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Written by AP
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Friday, 06 July 2007 02:28 |
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Turkey's top court on Thursday sided with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted government and opened the way for a referendum to be held on whether the president should be elected by popular vote instead of by Parliament.
The Constitutional Court rejected a request by the president and opposition parties that reform of the presidential election system be annulled, allowing the government to press ahead with plans to hold a referendum on the issue in October.
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer had sought the annulment, arguing that Parliament had not followed the correct procedures when it changed the Constitution in May.
Erdogan pushed for the electoral reform after secular opposition parties boycotted presidential elections in Parliament, creating a political impasse that forced Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul — the government's candidate — to abandon his bid for the office.
Erdogan also called for elections for July 22 — four months earlier than planned — to try to defuse the political tensions that pitted his party — which has roots in Turkey's Islamic movement — against secular parties.
Sezer, a staunch secularist who is often at odds with the government, opposes a direct vote for the president over concerns that a head of state with a strong popular mandate could cause friction with the prime minister and be a source of instability in the country.
Opposition parties also petitioned the court for an annulment.
Bulent Arinc, the Parliament speaker and a close Erdogan ally, welcomed the court's decision.
"The people will be able to choose their own president through their own free will," he said, apparently assuming the people would choose a popular election.
Burhan Kuzu, a legislator from Erdogan's party, said the referendum could be held on Oct. 22, three months after the general elections.
The political tensions erupted when secular parties objected to Gul's candidacy in April, fearing that his presidency would help consolidate the Islamic-rooted party's hold on power and allow it to work unopposed toward increasing Islam's role in politics. Sezer has acted as a brake on Erdogan's party by vetoing a record number of bills and appointments.
Secular Turks held mass rallies to prevent an "Islamist" from become president while the military threatened to intervene to protect the secular system, sparking criticism from the European Union which Turkey hopes to join.
Erdogan's government denies it has an Islamist agenda and has vowed to uphold secular values.
Sezer's seven-year term ended on May 16, but he is to stay on until a new president is elected. |