[News] Erdogan sets May 14 as the date for the presidential and legislative elections in Turkey

[SnO]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has set May 14 as the date for the country's presidential and legislative elections.

 

 

 

Erdogan said today, Sunday, during a youth meeting in the western city of Bursa, "I will use my powers to advance the election date to May 14."

He indicated - during this meeting, of which the Turkish presidency published a video recording - that it was "not early elections", but rather an amendment aimed at taking into account the date of university exams.

He pointed out that the electoral campaign will start 60 days before the date, that is, on March 10.

The elections were initially scheduled for next June 18, but many observers expected the date to be brought closer, before Erdogan hinted this week about that.

Anniversary of the first election
On Wednesday, the Turkish president hinted that the presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey would be held on May 14, marking the 73rd anniversary of the Democratic Party's victory in the first free elections in contemporary Turkey in 1950.

"Our nation will direct its response to the Table of Six (opposition) coalition on the same day after 73 years," Erdogan said in televised remarks last Wednesday.

The "Table of Six" is an alliance of 6 Turkish parties seeking to block the path to the presidency in front of Erdogan, and only the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) did not join the coalition.

This opposition coalition is expected to announce a presidential candidate in February.

On May 14, 1950, the Democratic Party, which was founded in 1946 by Adnan Menderes, and his dissident supporters from Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's party won the elections, before he was overthrown after 10 years in a military coup.

 

https://www.aljazeera.net/news/2023/1/22/عاجل-الرئيس-التركي-الانتخابات-العامة