Turkey’s election board sets May 9 as deadline to file nominations for presidential vote
Turkey’s Supreme Board of Elections (YSK) announced the calendar for the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections.
Accordingly, the process for the presidential election will begin on May 1. Political parties are required to submit the names of their candidates by May 5.
The final list of eligible candidates to run for president will be published on the Official Gazette on May 13, which will also mark the beginning of the presidential election campaign period.
Those who are able to collect at least 100,000 signatures may also run for the presidency and the deadline to file such candidates is May 9.
The deadline to submit the list of candidates who will run in the parliamentary election is May 21.
Turkish citizens living abroad can cast their votes between June 7 and June 19.
According to the calendar announced by the YSK, political parties that want to form an election alliance should submit their “alliance protocol” signed by the party leader to the YSK by May 6.
The YSK has said that 11 parties, including the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), will run in the parliamentary and presidential elections.
The other parties that will run are the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Felicity Party (SP), Grand Unity Party (BBP), Independent Turkey Party (BTP), Democrat Party (DP), Patriotic (Vatan) Party, Free Cause Party (Hüda-Par), and the newly formed İYİ (Good) Party.
Parliament passed a bill on April 20 calling for early elections on June 24, cementing Turkey’s move to a presidential system.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on April 25 signed a harmonization law to bring the country’s election system in line with constitutional reforms approved last year in a referendum.
Resignations from public offices
As the YSK announced the elections calendar, a number of high profile figures have resigned from public offices to run in the upcoming parliamentary election.
According to the laws, those who hold public offices must resign from their posts in order to compete in the elections.
The governor of the southern province of Burdur, the mayor of the Black Sea province of Samsun and the mayor of the Central Anatolian province of Konya and the mayor of Istanbul’s Fatih district have already announced their resignations.
The deputy general manager of the state-run broadcaster TRT and the head of the Social Security Institution (SGK) have also resigned from their posts to run on the AKP ticket in the upcoming vote.