The Turkish authorities argue that “There is no such thing as the extension of the second term of the President. However, in the event that the Assembly decides to renew the elections before the termination of President's second term in office, the President can once again be a candidate. It is not true to express it as an extension of the term of office. In other words, in the second term of the President, if the Grand National Assembly decides to renew the elections with a 3/5 majority (360 deputies) before the termination of second term of office, the President can only once again be a candidate. Here, in the case the Grand National Assembly decides to renew the elections in the second term of the President, it is aimed to give the current President the opportunity to be re-elected and therefore, that the public to check whether or not the Grand National Assembly exercise its power in an accurate manner and the public to confirm the democratic legitimacy.”  However, it should be underlined that pursuant to the amendments, the mandate of the President would not have to be of five years because there would be an express constitutional possibility to have early presidential elections. On the other hand, the decision of the TGNA to shorten the President’s mandate is submitted to the public, because there are simultaneous parliamentary elections at which the TGNA may be sanctioned. In the Venice Commission’s opinion, therefore, there is no justification for the possibility for the President to obtain a third mandate. The Venice Commission has previously stressed the importance of constitutional limitations on successive presidential terms as a means to limit the risk of negative consequences for democracy arising from the fact that a same person has the possibility of occupying the presidency for an excessive period of time.