Bahçeli dismisses CHP's hopes for snap polls in Turkey in fall
MHP Chairperson Devlet Bahçeli speaks at his party's parliamentary group meeting in Ankara, Feb. 26, 2021 (AA File Photo)


Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairperson Devlet Bahçeli dismissed the main opposition’s hopes of holding early elections in the fall, saying their efforts are in vain.

"Those who say elections will take place in the fall are only dreaming," Bahçeli told his party’s parliamentary group meeting Tuesday, adding that Chairperson Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and his friends in the Good Party (IP) will be disappointed in the end.

Kılıçdaroğlu recently told fellow party members to be prepared for elections in the fall or winter. He made the statement at a party meeting, noting that he "expects" elections by then.

Both Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairperson Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and Good Party (IP) Chairperson Meral Akşener have been calling for early elections since October 2020. They claim that Turkey is not being well-governed and the government is allegedly not finding solutions to the problems.

However, both the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the MHP have dismissed the rumors, saying that the elections will take place according to schedule in 2023.

"In our recent congress, we have drawn our five-stage road map consisting of our strategic goals," Bahçeli said, adding that the MHP aims to embrace the presidential system of government and ensure that it is rooted in the establishment.

Bahçeli continued by saying that their second strategic goal is to create a new constitution that complies with the spirit of the new system of administration.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan last month also dismissed the possibility of holding early elections, as he reiterated once again that such claims are nothing but speculation.

Turkey will hold its next general elections in June 2023, Erdoğan announced back in October 2020, and emphasized: "Moving it to an earlier time is out of the question."