2000 Turkish presidential election

Indirect presidential elections were held in Turkey on 27 April 2000 followed by a second round vote on 1 May and a third on 5 May. It occurred at the end of 9th president Süleyman Demirel's seven-year term in office. There was a small effort to convert Turkey's presidential system into two terms of five years each, which would have given Demirel an additional three years, but this proposal never found widespread support.

2000 Turkish presidential election

27 April 2000 (first round)
1 May 2000 (second round)
5 May 2000 (third round)

All 550 members of Parliament
276 votes needed to win
 
Nominee Ahmet Necdet Sezer Nevzat Yalçıntaş Sadi Somuncuoğlu
Party Independent FP MHP
Electoral vote 330 113 43
Percentage 63.83% 21.86% 8.32%


President before election

Süleyman Demirel
DYP

Elected President

Ahmet Necdet Sezer
Independent

In the months leading to the vote, each of the five largest parliamentary parties informally endorsed their own candidates. However, with their no party with a defining majority, a neutral compromise candidate was sought and eventually found in the form of Ahmet Necdet Sezer, former president of the Turkey's Constitutional Court. Sezer was endorsed by the leaders of the governing Democratic Left, Nationalist Movement and Motherland parties, as well as the leaders of the opposition Virtue and True Path parties.

A number of MPs broke from party lines to nominate themselves. Among them was parliament speaker and former prime minister Yıldırım Akbulut, who was unable to win popular support and withdrew after the second round.

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