Turkey’s election races officially begin as Erdogan sets vote for May 14
The country’s executive presidential system will be the focal point of the campaigning period.
ANKARA — The race for Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary election officially kicked off on Friday with the country’s 65 million-strong electorate set to hit the ballot box on May 14.
During the official announcement, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cited college admission exams, hajj, holiday seasons and earthquakes for holding the elections in May instead of June 18. His decision came into effect after it was published in the official gazette the same day.
Erdogan, who had announced his intention to bring the date of the polls forward before the Feb. 6 twin earthquakes, hinted last month that the killer temblors would not cause any change to the election timetable, defying speculation that he might want to delay the vote.
He also took a jab at the in-house rifts that engulfed the country’s leading opposition alliance last week before the bloc agreed on a joint candidate.
