Despite emphatic past denials, Erdogan calls for early elections
By moving presidential elections up by over a year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has everything to gain.
Turkey’s president announced today, April 18, that the country’s next presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in two months instead of in November 2019, a move expected to give him an enormous advantage, especially as the opposition currently has no candidate to challenge him.
With the election, now set for June 24, Turkey will convert to a presidential rather than parliamentary government. Under a referendum voters approved last year — barely — the next president’s power will increase significantly.
"Even though the president and government are working in unison, the diseases of the old system confront us at every step we take," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in announcing the early elections, according to state-owned media TRT World.
"Developments in Syria and elsewhere have made it urgent to switch to the new executive system in order to take steps for our country's future in a stronger way," Erdogan added.
