The total number of presidential candidates increased to six on Wednesday, after three out of four presidential candidates whose parties do not have a parliamentary group passed the 100,000-signature threshold to enter the presidential elections scheduled for June 24. The Supreme Board of Elections (YSK) officially announced the candidates later in the day.
According to Article 101 of the Constitution, a candidate for the presidential elections should either be nominated by political party groups in Parliament, meaning at least 20 deputies, or by political parties that obtained at least 5 percent of the vote in the last parliamentary elections or by 100,000 voters.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Muharrem İnce and pro-PKK Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş were nominated as presidential candidates by parliamentary groups of their political parties. Leaders of the Felicity Party (SP), Temel Karamollaoğlu; the Good Party (İP), Meral Akşener; the Patriotic Party (VP), Doğu Perinçek; and the Justice Party (AP), Vecdet Öz; appealed to become candidates by collecting the necessary number of signatures. Yesterday was the last day of the five-day period for giving signatures.
While Akşener and Karamollaoğlu collected enough signatures in the first days, Perinçek barely passed the 100,000 threshold on Wednesday. Öz failed to collect sufficient signatures and lost the right to enter the presidential elections. The candidates will try to garner more than 50 percent of the total votes to be elected in the first round. If none of the candidates succeed, the two candidates with the most votes in the first round will compete in second round.
