After emphasizing earlier in the week that Türkiye “cannot afford to waste time” in the wake of the Feb. 6 earthquakes that devastated Türkiye’s southeast and claimed over 46,000 lives, Erdoğan launched the formal procedures that will enable 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections to be brought forward from the previous official date of June 18.
Erdoğan previously confirmed a soon-to-come Presidential Decree would ensure that earthquake survivors, who had to change cities and addresses, could cast their votes.
Erdoğan is also expected to formally nominate himself in the race for the top office on behalf of the People’s Alliance, under which his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are partners.
He will be challenged by the main opposition’s Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the chair of the Republican People's Party (CHP), which headlines the electoral coalition Nation Alliance with five other parties.
While the six-party opposition bloc is yet to formally register Kılıçdaroğlu, they named the CHP leader just earlier this week after months of fractious debate.
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