Zeynep AzizPresident Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on 18 April 2018 that Turkey would hold presidential and parliamentary elections on 24 June, bringing the vote forward from its scheduled date in November 2019.
The decision followed a meeting with Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahçeli, who had called for early elections. Erdoğan cited regional developments, including the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and the need to overcome political and economic uncertainty.
The vote carried exceptional constitutional importance. Reforms narrowly approved in the 2017 referendum were due to replace Turkey’s parliamentary system with an executive presidency after the election. Holding the contest early therefore accelerated the transition to a presidency with expanded powers.
Opposition parties faced the challenge of organising candidates and alliances on a compressed timetable while the country remained under a state of emergency. Analysts and election observers focused on media access, legal safeguards and whether the campaign environment would provide equal opportunities.
Parliament approved the early-election proposal two days later. The announcement reshaped Turkish politics immediately, moving parties into campaign mode and making the institutional future of the republic the central issue of the coming vote.
