Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli signaled support on June 16 for holding Türkiye’s next elections in April 2028, backing a proposal that could shift the vote forward by several weeks and potentially ease the path for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to seek another term.
He was responding to remarks by presidential chief adviser Mehmet Uçum proposing a slight shift in the election timetable.
“There isn’t even a time difference between holding the elections on time and the date given by our president’s adviser,” Bahçeli said when asked about Uçum’s suggestion to move the originally scheduled election date of May 7 or 14, 2028, to April 16, 2028.
“Now is the time to clarify every issue under discussion and to bring Türkiye to a structure that fosters stability and growth.”
Uçum’s proposal was part of broader discussions that could allow Erdoğan to run for president again.
Under Türkiye’s constitution, a president may serve a maximum of two terms. Erdoğan has served multiple terms since first being elected in 2014, first under the parliamentary system and later under the presidential system.
Election authorities allowed him to run in the 2023 vote, reasoning that his earlier term did not count under the revised system.
Unless an early election is called, Erdoğan would not be eligible to run again in 2028.
Bahçeli also rejected speculation about alternative candidates within the ruling bloc.
“That’s not true. Our president is in office, and we stand behind him,” he said.
Erdoğan had previously described the 2024 local polls as his “final election,” though allies have since raised the possibility of another run.
“Türkiye needs President Erdoğan once again,” Uçum wrote in his column for Anadolu Agency.
It is necessary to “pave the way for President Erdoğan, who is a great asset to Türkiye in terms of his experience as a leader and his powerful and pioneering political influence in many areas of the world,” he added.
