Turkey to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14 | News about the elections

The elections are expected to be the Turkish opposition’s best chance in 20 years to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14, the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan officially announced.

“Our nation will go to the polls on May 14 to elect its president and parliamentarians,” Erdogan said in a speech on Friday after the signing of the election decree.

The announcement came as Erdogan said in a speech last week that the Turkish nation would do “what is necessary” on what is now officially announced as Election Day.

The election could be the country’s most significant vote in decades, with Erdogan’s two-decade rule over Turkey in jeopardy.

The opposition has coalesced around Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the second largest party in parliament, the Republican People’s Party (CHP).

However, another prominent opposition leader, Meral Aksener, initially opposed Kilicdaroglu’s candidacy as prime minister and last week expressed her doubts that the former bureaucrat, seen by some as uncharismatic, could defeat Erdogan.

On Monday, Aksener announced their support for Kilicdaroglu.

Erdogan, whose popularity has waned with Turkey’s ongoing economic crisis, has been accused by his opponents of authoritarianism.

His government’s response to the devastating earthquakes in south-eastern Turkey in February, which killed more than 46,000 people and left hundreds of thousands living in tents or makeshift shelters, has also been criticized, although Erdogan has defended the government’s actions.

Erdogan, who has led Turkey since 2003 and has held the presidency since 2014, still retains significant support and could still lead alongside his AK party.

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