Turkey: AK Party election rallies to start mid-May

By Mehmet Tosun

ANKARA (AA) - The spokesman for Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party on Thursday said that election rallies for the planned presidential and parliamentary elections would begin mid-May.

"The campaign process will likely start around May 15, we will have big rallies attended by the President and the Prime Minister,” Mahir Unal said.

Unal said the latest polls showed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claiming 55.6 percent of the vote.

On Wednesday Erdogan announced that early presidential and parliamentary elections were being planned in Turkey on June 24.

The announcement came after opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) head Devlet Bahceli Tuesday called for early elections.

On April 16, 2017, Turkey held a referendum during which the majority of voters pronounced themselves in favor of an 18-article bill switching a parliamentary system into a presidential one.