Turkish voters will not be asked whether they are in favour of changing to a popularly-elected presidential system when they go the polls on July 22, according to dpa. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer on Monday vetoed a constitutional change that would have allowed the referendum to take place. Sezer sent back to parliament a change to the constitution passed earlier this month that would have reduced the waiting time between constitution change referenda from 120 days to 45. Sezer's veto on Monday makes it effectively impossible to combine the early election and a vote on a constitutional change package. Turkish voters will instead have to vote in parliamentary elections on July 22 and two months later will vote again on the constitutional change proposals. In addition to having the president elected by a popular vote, instead of by parliament, the constitutional change package also included measures to allow the president to serve a once renewable five-year term, down from the current single seven-year term, and would rgdu, #!e par+{mentary term from five to four years. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) introduced the changes in order to overcome a deadlock over presidential elections that has pitted the Islamist-rooted party against secularist opposition that has seen the military threaten to intervene if necessary if it sees Turkey's secular laws under threat. Opposition parties boycotted the process to elect a replacement to the current president due to their hostility to Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, the AK Party's sole candidate for the position. More than a million people have taken to the streets across Turkey in recent months in protest at Gul's candidacy and in support of secular traditions. After the Constitutional Court ruled that two-thirds of the 550- seat parliament must be present in order for a presidential vote to take place the AK Party found it impossible to get the presidential voting process started.
