Early poll decision not expected before April: Şentop

ANKARA

Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop has announced his expectation that any decision for early elections will not be taken before April 6.

Speaking about the allegations of early polls in 2023 in a TV interview, Şentop reminded that the elections will “normally” be held on June 18.

“Both the parliament and the presidency have the arbitrament for an early election decision,” he said on Dec. 28 and added: “Even a decision will be taken on early elections, the legal duration is 60 days, Based on this, I do not expect that such a decision will be taken until April 6.”

If an early poll decision is not taken, Türkiye will witness two elections on June 18, 2023. Presidential elections will be held to elect the president using a two-round system. Simultaneously, parliamentary elections will be conducted to elect 600 members of the Grand National Assembly.

When asked if there is any obstacle on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s candidacy once again in the elections, Şentop clearly said, “Legally, there is no debate on that.”

He also declared his opinion about this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, highlighting that Erdoğan should be having it.

“I nominated Erdoğan for the Nobel Peace Prize for his peace efforts in the Ukraine War,” he said. “I have my application [to the Nobel Committee] and there will be some more applications from some other countries,” he added.