Erdogan announces election date: Rerun

Turkey's president has declared May 14th as the date for holding the country's upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.

President Recep Tayip Erdogan, who plans to re-advancing, made the announcement during a youth conference Saturday in the northwestern province of Bursa. The footage of the event was released on Sunday, January 22nd.

“We are destined to share our path with you, our youth, who will vote for the first time in elections to be held on May 14th”, the Turkish president said.

Erdogan, who has been in power since 2003 initially as prime minister and as president since 2014, faces the most challenging election for him to date.

He ran into these elections as his support for him fell behind the economic crisis, which caused inflation to reach 85 percent last year.

The opposition has blamed Erdogan for Turkey's economic downturn, for violating civil rights and freedoms, saying that in the second decade in power, he has shown authoritarian stance.

Erdogan, 68, introduced a system of government in 2018 that abolished the prime minister's office and focused most of the powers in the president's hands. The president's position in Turkey, until that year, was largely ceremonial.

Under the new system, presidential and parliamentary elections are held on the same day.