(The Guardian) – The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has announced snap elections on 24 June, more than a year earlier than planned, saying the country urgently needed to make the switch to an executive presidency.
Whoever wins will be vested with extraordinary powers after a referendum last year transformed Turkey into a presidential republic instead of a parliamentary one.
Erdoğan said he made the decision after speaking to the head of the Nationalist Movement party (MHP), Devlet Bahçeli, who a day earlier had floated the prospect of early polls. The parliamentary and presidential elections had previously been expected in November 2019.
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