Turkey early poll surprise

PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan caught Turkey off guard yesterday by calling early elections for June, in a move that could cement his grip on power a year ahead of schedule.

Mr Erdogan announced that parliamentary and presidential elections, originally scheduled for November 2019, would now be on June 24, meaning that a new political system that will increase the powers of the president will take effect a year early.

Turkey is switching from a parliamentary system to a presidential one.