President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Thursday that the date of general elections may be moved up “based on seasonal conditions.” “You know the importance of 2023 elections, which we may slightly hold at an earlier date,” the president told members of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) at an event in the capital Ankara.
Amid a heated debate on early elections or a change in the election date scheduled for mid-June, the president hinted on Wednesday that a change might be possible, “based on public opinion.”
The AK Party and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are partners under the People's Alliance, with Erdoğan serving as the alliance's candidate for the upcoming presidential elections.
Snap polls have been the main agenda for opposition parties, which created the “table for six” alliance. The opposition insists on having elections before the implementation of the election and political party law on April 6, 2022, which, under the Constitution, could apply to the next scheduled election, one year after it came into effect. The law reforms elections by increasing the vote threshold for parties by having their lawmakers directly elected into Parliament, something that would affect smaller parties.
The “seasonal conditions” Erdoğan referred to include a busy calendar for Türkiye that will host crucial university admission exams for millions and the start of a summer holiday for most schools.
The president will run as the contender for the People’s Alliance of the AK Party and ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in the polls. He hailed his party’s success over more than two decades in successive elections and boasted that the party currently had the most members, at more than 11.2 million according to official figures. A report based on official figures by Anadolu Agency (AA) released on Thursday shows the AK Party’s main rival, the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), ranks second in the number of members, at more than 1.3 million.
