- Election to normally be held in May 2028 under Turkish law.
- Constitution allows parliament to trigger early elections.
- It remains unclear who would be main challenger to Erdogan.
A top adviser to Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Turkish leader would run again in an early election likely to be held in April 2028, media outlets reported on Thursday.
“If 360 lawmakers back a decision to call a new election, it will be held on April 16, 2028,” Mehmet Ucum said in remarks cited by private NTV broadcaster and Cumhuriyet newspaper.
Under Turkish law, an election would normally be held in May that year.
But the constitution allows parliament to trigger early elections if such a move has the support of 360 of the Turkish parliament’s 600 lawmakers, which would open the way for Erdogan to seek another term.
Erdogan’s ruling AKP and its nationalist ally MHP control 326 seats in parliament.
Until now, the government has repeatedly insisted elections will be held on schedule.
Erdogan, 72, who came to power as prime minister in 2003, was elected president in 2014 after serving three terms as premier.
Following Turkey’s switch to an executive presidential system, he was re-elected in 2018 and again in 2023.
Early election signal?
During a visit to his Black Sea home province of Rize last weekend, Erdogan appeared to signal a possible early vote, speaking to supporters of “the upcoming elections”.
“Within this unity and solidarity, I renew my belief that we will, God willing, successfully get through the upcoming elections,” Erdogan said.
The remarks were interpreted by observers as a possible reference to an early election but AKP spokesman Omer Celik dismissed the suggestion.
“It was not a signal of an early election. There is no election on our agenda,” he told reporters.
When he was re-elected for what he said would be his final term in May 2023, amid growing concerns over Turkey’s economic outlook, Erdogan vowed to entrust the country’s future to “our youth”.
Opposition leader Ozgur Ozel has repeatedly called for an early election since the March 2025 jailing of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, widely regarded as Erdogan’s main rival, over what critics have said is a politically-motivated graft probe.
Imamoglu was jailed on the same day the CHP formally nominated him as its candidate for the 2028 presidential election.
Following a controversial court ruling that reshaped the CHP leadership, Ozel launched the Yeni Parti (New Party) drawing support from enough MPs to take over as Turkey’s main opposition force.
It remains unclear who would be the main opposition’s challenger to Erdogan, with Imamoglu unlikely to be able to run from behind bars.
Frequently accused by critics of authoritarian tendencies, particularly after the failed July 2016 coup and the sweeping purges that followed, Erdogan remains popular among his supporters, who see him as the only leader capable of resisting Western pressure and steering Turkey through regional and international crises.
