Turkey’s highest court referred Tuesday the closure case of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) to its rapporteur, taking a further step toward the process of a potential disbandment of Turkey’s second-largest opposition party ahead of crucial elections in May. 

The move comes after the HDP announced last week that it will not make a verbal defense before the Constitutional Court (AYM), which has rejected the party’s request to delay the proceedings until after the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May 14. The Grand Chamber of the Constitutional Court, which reviewed the party’s petition Tuesday, inscrolled that the party had waived its right to oral defense and handed over the file to the court’s rapporteur to prepare the report. Once the report is ready, Constitutional Court president Zuhtu Arslan will set a date for the series of meetings to reach a verdict. 

Though it is not clear whether the court will make a ruling on the ban before the elections, the HDP has already taken its guard by competing in the polls under the Green Left (Yesil Sol) Party, its sister party that has a similar flag and an almost identical logo, instead of its own name and logo. 

"We will not enter an electoral process while risking closure, even if there is a one in a thousand chance," said HDP co-chair Mithat Sancar, as he announced the decision last week.