‘I will make formal call for elections on March 10:’ Erdoğan

BURSA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Jan. 22 that he will make a formal call for elections on March 10 and again underlined May 14 as the date for the country’s next parliamentary and presidential elections.

“I thank God that we are destined to share our path with you, our valued youth, who will vote for the first time in the elections that will be held on May 14,” Erdoğan said at a youth conference in the northwestern Bursa province.

The president said he would make the formal call on March 10, after which Türkiye’s Supreme Election Council would prepare for the elections.

“This is not an early election, it’s an election to the fore,” he said.

Erdoğan emphasized that they had consulted with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli and decided to make an “update” to the election timetable.

“We said, ‘There is no time to waste.’ For this reason, we have made such evaluations on everyone’s status regarding the summer vacation, [harvest of] tea, hazelnuts, etc. in the Black Sea region, KPSS [exams] etc. Especially the situation of our students is very important to us,” he said.

“We took this step and made the decision accordingly, but officially the president has an authority here. As you know, on March 10, as the president, I will use this authority and there is 60 days after that,” Erdoğan noted.

The Supreme Election Board will evaluate the date he said and added, “We will hopefully announce our decision on March 10.”

Last week, Erdoğan signaled that Türkiye will go to the simultaneous presidential and parliamentary polls on May 14, 35 days earlier than the slated day.

In a huge symbolism of May 14, 1950, elections in which late Adnan Menderes won the country’s first free elections against the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Erdoğan said “The late Menderes said on May 14, 1950, ‘Enough, the people will have their say,’ and emerged victorious at the ballot box,” in his address to his party’s parliamentary group on Jan. 18.

Erdoğan has already been declared as the joint candidate of the People’s Alliance, composed by the AKP and the MHP and will be aiming for another five-year term in the upcoming polls. As the AKP and MHP votes are not enough to change the election date from June 18 to May 14, Erdoğan will have to use his power to dissolve the parliament in the first 10 days of March.

If no presidential candidate can get 50 percent plus one vote on May 14, then the first two contenders will go to the second round on May 28. The most voted will be elected as the president in the second round.

The oppositional six-party alliance have already agreed to stand against Erdoğan with a joint presidential candidate. The alliance will announce its candidate in February after unveiling its joint government program on Jan. 30.