Turkey: Erdogan indicates May 14 date for his biggest election test

• Turkey would hold elections on May 14, a month earlier.
• The vote will also determine how Turkey is governed.
• The vote will also determine what role it may play in easing conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East.

President Tayyip Erdogan announced on Wednesday that Turkey would hold elections on May 14, a month earlier than previously announced, kicking off what could be the most consequential vote in the republic’s century-long history.

The parliamentary and presidential elections are expected to be close, and they will be Erdogan’s biggest test in his two decades at the helm of the regional military power, NATO member, and major emerging market economy.

The vote will also determine how Turkey is governed and what role it may play in easing conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East, with an opposition alliance promising to reverse the president’s unconventional economic policies.

Erdogan told lawmakers in parliament of his Islamist-rooted AK Party (AKP) that Turks will dismiss the opposition at the ballot box on the same date that elections were held in 1950.

“Our nation will say ‘enough’ to these coup appreciators, this ambitious but incompetent Table of Six, on the same day after 73 years,” Erdogan said of the six-party alliance looking to topple him.

In the elections held on May 14 of 1950, the Democrat Party prevailed against the Republican People’s Party (CHP), which had ruled Turkey for 27 years since its founding – and which is the largest party in today’s opposition alliance.

Last year, Erdogan said the election would be held in June, but earlier this month he said the date could be moved up from June 18.

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