President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted on Saturday that Turkey’s upcoming elections could be held in May, a month earlier than scheduled.
“We have five months, no stop for five months,” Erdogan said during a rally in the Mediterranean city of Antalya, urging his grassroots supporters to conduct a door-to-door campaign ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections.
Erdogan, who’ll turn 69 in February, has dominated Turkish politics for almost two decades and turned the once-ceremonial post of president into the nexus of executive power. He said Thursday that the election — originally expected to be held June 18 — could be brought forward.
The president is expected to renew the elections under his existing powers, and the country’s Supreme Election Board will then decide on the date.
Erdogan needs to win more than 50% of the votes for a first-round presidential victory to avoid a second-round run-off two weeks later.
A six-party opposition bloc is yet to declare its candidate, and a leading pro-Kurdish party, HDP, said on Saturday that it will soon declare its own candidate.
