CHP leader: Presidential vote soon

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

The CHP’s Kılıçdaroğlu says their presidential candidate could be a woman. AA photo

Main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu voiced expectations that Turkey will hold presidential elections in August, as he believes the Constitutional Court will scrap the law fixing President Abdullah Gül’s term to seven years.

The Republican People’s party (CHP) is planning to nominate a high-profile candidate who will also appeal to center-right voters, Kılıçdaroğlu said in an interview with Habertürk television over the weekend. He described the potential candidate as either a social-democrat or a center-right figure “who enjoys the people’s respect and whose past inspires confidence, [who] can easily establish contacts with world leaders and is embraced by all segments of society.” Kılıçdaroğlu refused to give names, but added the candidate could be a woman. If the Constitutional Court heeds the CHP petition and eliminates the law which sets Gül’s term to seven years the president will become subject to the current constitution, which stipulates once-renewable, five-year terms for the heads of state.