2000 Turkish presidential election explained

Country:Turkey
Type:presidential
Previous Election:1993 Turkish presidential election
Previous Year:1993
Election Date:27 April 2000 (first round)
1 May 2000 (second round)
5 May 2000 (third round)
Next Election:2007 Turkish presidential election
Next Year:2007
Votes For Election:All 550 members of Parliament
276 votes needed to win
Image1:Ahmet Necdet Sezer.jpg
Nominee1:Ahmet Necdet Sezer
Party1:Independent
Electoral Vote1:330
Percentage1:63.83%
Nominee2:Nevzat Yalçıntaş
Party2:Virtue Party
Electoral Vote2:113
Percentage2:21.86%
Image3:3x4.svg
Party3:Nationalist Movement Party
Electoral Vote3:43
Percentage3:8.32%
President
Before Election:Süleyman Demirel
Before Party:True Path Party
After Election:Ahmet Necdet Sezer
After Party:Independent (politician)

Indirect presidential elections were held in Turkey on 27 April 2000 followed by a second round vote on 1 May and a third on 5 May. It occurred at the end of 9th president Süleyman Demirel's seven-year term in office. There was a small effort to convert Turkey's presidential system into two terms of five years each, which would have given Demirel an additional three years, but this proposal never found widespread support.

In the months leading to the vote, each of the five largest parliamentary parties informally endorsed their own candidates. However, with their no party with a defining majority, a neutral compromise candidate was sought and eventually found in the form of Ahmet Necdet Sezer, former president of the Turkey's Constitutional Court. Sezer was endorsed by the leaders of the governing Democratic Left, Nationalist Movement and Motherland parties, as well as the leaders of the opposition Virtue and True Path parties.

A number of MPs broke from party lines to nominate themselves. Among them was parliament speaker and former prime minister Yıldırım Akbulut, who was unable to win popular support and withdrew after the second round.

Electoral system

The presidential vote is held in parliament by secret ballot. A candidate requires a two-thirds majority - or 367 votes - to be elected in the first two rounds. If there is no clear winner before the third round, the winning threshold is dropped to a simple majority, or 276 votes. If there is still no winner, the two candidates with the most votes from the third round progress to a runoff election, where the simply majority rule still applies. In the event of no clear winner among the two, the Turkish constitution states that a snap general election must be called to overcome the parliamentary deadlock.

Results

Vecdi Gönül of the Virtue Party withdrew when a cross-party compromise candidate was found in Sezer; however, he Still received five votes in the first ballot. Gönul Saray Alphan and Turhan İmamoğlu of Democratic Left Party had stated they would run but both withdrew their candidacies before the first ballot.

See also