almotamar.net - ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's prime minister urged opposition lawmakers on Friday to attend the first round of a presidential election that has exposed deep divisions between his Islamist-rooted government and the country's secular elite.
Parliament is due to convene at 1200 GMT to vote on the ruling AK Party's candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. The party has a big majority in the chamber but not enough to stave off a threatened legal challenge by the main opposition party.
"I urge all elected deputies ... to come and do their democratic political duty. We are facing one of the most important days of our democratic life," Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told a news conference hours before the vote.
Erdogan raised the possibility of bringing forward Turkey's general election from November, a key demand of smaller opposition parties whose support Erdogan and Gul need to stave off the main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) threat of a legal challenge.
A small opposition party, the centre-right True Path Party (DYP), said it had decided not to take part in Friday's first round. The DYP has four deputies in the 550-seat assembly.
The secularist CHP plans to boycott the presidential vote and says it will ask the Constitutional Court to annul the result if fewer than 367, or two thirds, of all deputies attend the voting session. The AK Party has 352 members able to vote.
If the Constitutional Court upheld a CHP complaint, Erdogan would have to call a snap general election.
Gul is respected abroad as the architect of Turkey's European Union bid but secularists, including the powerful army, fear the former Islamist will try to undermine Turkey's secular system of government that separates politics and religion.
Turkey's financial markets are also watching the vote closely, fearful that protracted legal battles over the election could scare away investors in the fast-growing economy. Turkey must hold a general election by November.
DISAGREEMENT
The AK Party, including the powerful Speaker of Parliament Bulent Arinc, says 184 deputies are sufficient for Friday's presidential vote to be valid. But they are clearly worried about the prospect of the strongly secularist Constitutional Court having to rule on their dispute with the CHP.
Gul is very unlikely to win the required 367 votes in Friday's election to become president even if sufficient deputies turn up in the chamber. He is widely expected to be elected on a simple majority of 276 in the third round on May 9.
Opposition parties accuse the AK Party of failing to consult with them on its choice of candidate. CHP leader Deniz Baykal repeated his threat to launch an appeal.
"The presidential election has been handled very wrongly. We are in a very confused situation," he told CNN Turk television.
Erdogan and Gul deny opposition claims they have an Islamist agenda. They say the AK Party is a modern centre-right party that wants to remove what they see as outdated restrictions on religious expression and symbols such as the Muslim headscarf.
Even if the government is compelled to call an early general election, analysts say, the AK Party is sure to win another big majority. It has presided over strong economic growth and political reforms since taking power in November 2002.