Turkey's opposition fears Erdogan will call a snap election to bypass term limits
Turkey's main opposition CHP says it fears President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is engineering a snap election to sidestep constitutional term limits and win another term, framing the court-ordered reinstatement of former leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu as part of that strategy. Under the constitution Erdogan cannot seek a third term without a constitutional change or an early vote, which requires 360 of 600 MPs -- meaning he would need opposition votes that, CHP sources say, his AKP may be able to find. The maneuvering unfolds amid a widening crackdown -- prosecutors seek a 2,430-year sentence for jailed Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu -- and a deteriorating budget that ran a TRY 338.7 billion deficit in April.
Turkey's main opposition, the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP), says it fears President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is preparing snap elections to sidestep constitutional limits and secure another term. CHP sources told Euractiv that judicial interference in the party's leadership race is part of that strategy. "It is a huge signal that Erdogan is going for a snap election," senior figures said. "He is crippling the main opposition."
The turmoil follows a May 21 Ankara court ruling that annulled the CHP's November 2023 congress -- at which Ozgur Ozel had defeated Kemal Kilicdaroglu after the latter's loss to Erdogan in the May 2023 presidential election -- and reinstated Kilicdaroglu as leader. The CHP, affiliated with the Party of European Socialists, alleges the decision was politically motivated under pressure from Erdogan's AKP. After Ozel and other members refused to hand over the party's Ankara headquarters, riot police stormed the building; Kilicdaroglu has since said the party will hold a fresh congress.
Under the regular calendar, parliamentary and presidential elections must be held by May 2028, and Erdogan cannot run again without either changing the constitution or calling an early vote -- which requires the approval of 360 MPs in the 600-seat assembly, and therefore opposition votes that, speculation in Ankara holds, the AKP could secure. The pressure on the opposition has been intense: Istanbul mayor and CHP presidential hopeful Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested in March 2025, triggering mass protests, and prosecutors are seeking a cumulative 2,430-year sentence on charges including "establishing a criminal organisation." The EU said "political opposition must be free to operate, organise, and participate in the political process without fear of repression."
Pollsters currently put the CHP slightly ahead of the AKP, a lead the opposition believes could widen as the economy weakens; the central-government budget ran a TRY 338.7 billion (about 6.3 billion euro) deficit in April 2026, nearly double a year earlier, constraining Erdogan's room for pre-election spending. Europe remains divided over Ankara: Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in April grouped Turkey with Russia and China as sources of negative influence, even as Spain and Belgium increasingly treat it as central to European defence -- and Erdogan is due to host a NATO summit in July.