More ballots may help fuel Turkey’s religious tempest

Parliament on Thursday approved a constitutional amendment to elect Turkey’s president by popular vote, giving even greater weight to midsummer elections that are already shaping up as a divisive referendum on the role of Islam in government.

The 376-1 vote by lawmakers opens the door to simultaneous July 22 presidential and parliamentary elections. However, the package of electoral reforms could still be vetoed by the country’s resolutely secular president, with whom the ruling party is at odds.

Under the amendment, the president for the first time would be elected by popular vote rather than by parliament, and could serve up to two five-year terms rather than a single seven-year one.

Lawmakers’ terms would be shortened from five to four years, and it would be much easier for the majority party to muster a quorum in parliament -- an issue that took on outsized importance in recent weeks amid a polarizing struggle over the presidency.

The ruling Justice and Development Party, known by its Turkish initials AKP, believes the changes will help solidify its hold on power. The vote represented a victory for the party, which has its roots in political Islam, after an unexpected political battering over the last month.

“Is this the revenge of the AKP?” asked Mehmet Ali Birand, who anchors the main prime-time newscast on Turkey’s Channel D.

Turkey is embroiled in a bitter political confrontation sparked when the ruling party tried to put forth a candidate to replace outgoing President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, whose seven-year term in the largely ceremonial post was to have ended May 16.

The political opposition, with the aid of the staunchly pro-secular courts and military, managed to block the election of the AKP’s candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

Opponents claimed Gul would not respect Turkey’s constitutionally mandated separation of religion and state. The foreign minister insisted he would.

However, large street protests, threats from the military and a court ruling that hinged on the technical question of what constituted a parliamentary quorum ultimately forced him to step aside.

Frustrated, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for early elections, in which his party is expected to perform well and keep its majority.

But opposition parties also have begun forming alliances that could strengthen them and force Erdogan’s party into a coalition government.

The opposition could still seek to block the changes approved Thursday. As president, Sezer has veto power, which he could exercise. But the veto could be overridden by lawmakers.

Sezer also could insist that the changes be put to a referendum, which would make it virtually impossible for them to become law in time to affect the current contest.

The ruling party has been harshly criticized for pushing through major changes to the electoral system in the final weeks of this government’s reign, and with just over 10 weeks remaining before voting.

Critics said such a task would have been better left to a new parliament.

But Erdogan and his party have in turn accused opponents of acting undemocratically by invoking a threat of military intervention to block Gul’s candidacy.

In the last 50 years, four Turkish governments have been driven from power by the military.

The vote was preceded by acrimonious daylong debate among lawmakers.

Making the presidential vote a popular exercise rather than a parliamentary one is perceived as a means of giving the balloting greater legitimacy inside and outside Turkey.

It would also make it much more difficult for opposition parties to use technical and legal means to deny the AKP the presidency.

The more secular-minded opposition is already alarmed by the AKP’s signals that it will seek to strengthen the powers of the president, who under the current system is largely limited to making judicial appointments and vetoing laws.

Opposition parties have long considered the post, which has always held by an avowed secularist, a counterweight to the influence of more Islamist-leaning parties in parliament.

*

king@latimes.com