Erdoğan officially calls Turkish elections for May 14
President Erdoğan has set the parliamentary and presidential elections for May 14 which could be Turkey's most significant vote in decades.
Duvar English - Reuters
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan officially set Turkey's parliamentary and presidential elections for May 14, a month ahead of schedule, signing the decision in a ceremony shown live on television on March 10.
"Our nation will go to the polls to elect its president and parliamentarians on May 14," Erdoğan said in a speech after signing the election decision.
Erdoğan set the clock ticking for the biggest test of his 20-year rule that will decide not only who leads Turkey but how it is governed, where its economy is headed and what role it may play to ease conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Earlier this week, Turkey's six-party main opposition alliance named main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as its presidential candidate to challenge Erdoğan.
Polls suggest that the presidential and parliamentary votes will be tight, with the opposition bloc running slightly ahead of the governing alliance.
The bloc has vowed to reverse many of Erdoğan's policies on the economy, civil rights and foreign affairs in what many see as the most consequential election in the republic's 100-year history.