, has said nearly half of Turkish citizens are demanding early elections and that he predicts these elections could take place within the next 18 months, the Birgün daily reported.){kind=link}
Özgür Özel, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has said nearly half of Turkish citizens are demanding early elections and that he predicts these elections could take place within the next 18 months, the Birgün daily reported.
The last time Turkey held presidential and parliamentary elections was May 2023, when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan secured yet another term in office. The next elections are scheduled for 2028.
In the March local elections, however, the CHP emerged as the leading party for the first time in 47 years, securing 37.7 percent of the vote, while the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), for the first time in 22 years, came in second, garnering only 35.4 percent.
The talk about early elections came to the nation’s agenda following the AKP’s election defeat on March 31, despite the fact that the main opposition CHP has not called for early polls. Özel has so far refused to make such a call.
Özel, who spoke to reporters following a ceremony at the parliament, said he predicts Turks will to go to the polls again in one-and-a-half years, some time in the middle of the five years between the two general elections.
He said the CHP would not make a call for early elections based on the local election results but emphasized that the people’s demand for early elections is the determining factor.
Özel cited recent surveys as showing that the CHP is widening its lead every month while maintaining its position as the country’s first party.
“In these circumstances, we need to see whether the public wants early elections. Every month this demand increases a little more. … Almost half of the society demands early elections now. As long as the demand for early elections increases, we will continue to promote it.”
The CHP leader also noted that it is technically not possible to hold early elections without the support of the ruling party since the votes of 360 out of 600 lawmakers are needed to go to early polls and the opposition doesn’t have this number of votes at the moment.
The CHP has 127 seats in the parliament.
Özel said if the economy remains in its current poor state, with inflation at over 75 percent, people are likely to demand early elections and vote the AKP out of office.
Over the past several years Turkey has been suffering from a deteriorating economy, with high inflation and unemployment, as well as a poor human rights record. Erdoğan is criticized for mishandling the economy, emptying the state’s coffers and establishing one-man rule in the country where dissent is suppressed and opponents are jailed on politically motivated charges.