SNAP ELECTIONS

ERDOGAN DECLARES EARLY ELECTIONS ON JUNE 24

On April 18, President Tayyip Erdogan called snap elections for June 24, saying economic challenges and the war in

Syria meant Turkey must switch quickly to the powerful executive presidency that goes into effect after the vote. The presidential and parliamentary elections will take place under a state of emergency that has been in place since an attempted coup in July 2016. It was extended by parliament on on the same day as Erdogan's election announcement for another three months.

Last year, Erdogan narrowly won a referendum to change the constitution and create the executive presidency.

The changes take effect with the next presidential vote.

The government had repeatedly denied reports it would bring forward the elections, which were not due until November 2019, but Erdogan said Turkey should leave political uncertainty behind. Citing its military operations in neighboring Syria and the need to make important decisions on investments and an economy unlikely to maintain last year’s sharp growth, he said it was necessary “to remove the election issue from our agenda.”

Turkey must “switch to the new executive system in order to take steps for our country’s future in a stronger way,” he said in an address from the presidential palace in Ankara, flanked by rows of Turkish flags and broadcast live on television.

“By calling snap elections for June, Erdogan is signaling that he believes his support, at least for the near future, has peaked," Nicholas Danforth, a senior policy analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Centre in Washington, said. "He may well be worried that if Turkey’s economic problems continue to worsen it will take a toll on his support.”

The announcement was made after Erdogan held talks with the head of the nationalist MHP party, Devlet Bahceli, who a day earlier had floated the prospect of an early election. Bahceli’s small MHP party is expected to form an alliance with Erdogan’s AK Party in the parliamentary election. Three hours after Erdogan’s declaration, the High Electoral Board said it had completed all preparations for early elections and was waiting for approval from parliament, where the AK Party has a majority.

The main opposition party, CHP, called for an immediate end to the emergency, which allows Erdogan and the government to bypass parliament in passing new laws and allows them to suspend rights and freedoms. “There cannot be an election under emergency rule,” CHP spokesman, Bulent Tezcan, said. “The country needs to brought out of the emergency rule regime starting today.”