Turkish President Announces Early Presidential, Parliamentary Elections

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for early presidential and parliamentary elections.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have agreed to hold both elections on June 24, 2018, 17 months before the scheduled date.

The presidential and parliamentary elections will take place under a state of emergency that has been in place since an attempted coup in July 2016.

It was extended by the Turkish Parliament on Wednesday for another three months.

A government spokesman made the announcement on Wednesday and the vote will be the first after last year's referendum approved a change to the constitution and the creation of an executive presidency. The extended powers for the President were not due to take effect until after presidential polls which were previously due to take place before November 2019. 

Some 55 million Turkish people will be eligible to vote for the 600-seat Parliament, as well as for the President who will be able to use all the powers granted to the head of the nation through the controversial April 16, 2017 referendum that replaced the parliamentary system with an executive presidential model.

Despite the fact that the upcoming elections will mark the beginning of the implementation of the executive presidency model, abolishing the Prime Ministry, the PM of Turkey Binali Yıldırım told reporters that June is a good period for snap elections.

The President needs to garner at least 50% plus one vote to be elected in the first round. If no contenders receive a simple majority, the two top candidates will run in the second round of presidential elections two weeks after, on July 8.

According to Turkish media, although not yet officially announced, President Erdoğan will be the joint candidate of the AKP-MHP alliance. If successful he will be able to rule until 2023 with a chance to be re-elected for a second term.

By Thea Morrison

Photo source: TRT World