Turkish President Erdogan signed a decree on holding general elections in May. The opposition has a chance to win

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a decree on the appointment of simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections in the country. They will take place on May 14.

Anadolu writes about it.

According to him, as soon as the decree is published in the official journal, the Supreme Election Commission will start preparations for the elections. The election campaign itself will last two months.

"Our nation will go to the polls to elect its president and parliamentarians on May 14," Erdogan noted.

The elections were planned to be held in June, but Erdogan decided to postpone them a month earlier. He explained that June is the time for university exams, vacations, vacations, and traditional religious trips to holy places.

Erdogan himself has faced criticism for the devastating earthquakes that have killed more than 47 000 people. He is criticized for the fact that the authorities did not prepare for such incidents, as well as for corruption, because many buildings were built without observing the norms that would save them from collapsing during an earthquake. Before that, Erdogan was also criticized for problems in the economy and the collapse of the Turkish currency.

Previously, opinion polls showed that Erdogan could win in the first round of the elections, but not get more than 50%. In the second round, he lost to all opposition candidates. On March 6, the opposition decided on a single candidate — 74-year-old politician Kemal Kilicdaroglu. After that, the ratings of the opposition immediately climbed up, and the ratings of the government began to fall.

The six-party opposition bloc promises to roll back a huge number of Erdoganʼs reforms. There they want to return to parliamentary democracy, as well as restore the independence of the Central Bank. The election, scheduled for May 14, will be one of the most difficult for Erdogan and his party, which has been in power since 2003.