Turkey is likely to vote in presidential and parliamentary elections in March or April 2028, Mehmet Uçum, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s chief adviser, said Thursday, outlining a timetable that could enable Erdoğan to run again if parliament approves an early election.
“It is now largely clear that the 2028 elections could be in March or April,” Uçum told reporters at the Çankaya presidential mansion in Ankara, according to the Cumhuriyet daily.
The elections are normally due in May 2028, meaning the timetable Uçum described would bring voting forward by one or two months.
That difference matters because Turkey’s constitution limits presidents to two five-year terms but permits a president serving a second term to run once more if parliament calls early presidential and parliamentary elections.
Such a decision requires at least 360 votes in the 600-seat legislature, under Article 116 of the constitution.
The president can also call an early election, but that route does not activate the exception allowing another candidacy during a second term.
Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its allies have 331 seats, leaving them 29 votes short of the required number and dependent on support from outside their alliance.
Uçum had proposed April 16, 2028, as a possible election date in September, citing the anniversary of the 2017 referendum that approved Turkey’s transition from a parliamentary system to an executive presidency.
At the time he described Erdoğan’s next candidacy as his last and acknowledged that parliament would need to approve the election decision.
Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the AKP’s far-right ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), renewed his support for that approach on October 6, calling for parliament to approve elections at a time that would allow Erdoğan to run again while keeping the vote in 2028.
Opposition leader Özgür Özel has also sought an early election but has opposed making another Erdoğan candidacy the purpose of changing the timetable.
Erdoğan served as prime minister from 2003 to 2014 before winning his first presidential election, followed by victories in 2018 and 2023.
Opposition parties and legal experts challenged his eligibility in 2023, arguing that he had already served two presidential terms, but the Supreme Election Board (YSK) allowed him to compete on the grounds that his presidency before the change in the system did not count toward the current limit.
Uçum also indicated that drafting a new constitution could extend beyond the election, describing the period before voting as preparation and suggesting that the next parliament could complete a text and submit it to a referendum in 2029.
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