By Xinhua
Ankara : Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) renominated Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul as presidential candidate on Monday, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.
Turkish reliable sources were quoted as saying that Gul has been nominated for the president during AKP’s Central Executive Board meeting on Monday evening, adding that Gul is expected to meet opposition leaders on Tuesday.
Gul withdrew from the presidential elections in May after the parliament’s general assembly failed to reach a quorum of 367 voters needed to elect a new president due to boycott by the opposition, prompting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to call an early parliamentary election.
The ruling party won a sweeping victory in the July 22 election and now holds a majority of seats in parliament.
Turkey’s secular elite are strongly opposed to the nomination of Gul, a controversial figure with an Islamist background, and the main opposition Republican People’s Party has called on the AKP to name a compromise candidate for the post.
The first round of presidential election will be held on August20 and prospective candidates may apply until midnight August 19, Anatolia said on Friday.
If the parliament’s general assembly fails to elect a new president in the first round, there will be a second round on August 24, and may be a third round on August 28 and a fourth and last round on September 1, the report added.