Turkish opposition may announce presidential candidate during rally

The Turkish opposition Alliance of Six intends to announce its presidential candidate at a multimillion-strong rally in Ankara. The action is planned for March 11, the day after the signing of the decree on the appointment of presidential elections by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Hurriyet newspaper said on Tuesday.

Report informs citing TASS the Turkish leader confirmed on Monday plans to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14 instead of June 18, when they were originally planned. He also said that if the parliament does not support this proposal, he will use the right granted to him by the constitution to dissolve the parliament and appoint elections. According to local law, voting can take place on the first Sunday 60 days after the signing of a presidential decree. Thus, Erdogan should sign the document on March 10.

The next day, the opposition, according to Hurriyet, plans to convene a rally of its supporters in the Turkish capital, at which a presidential candidate will be announced. Most likely, the leader of the Republican People's Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, will become the only candidate from the opposition, local publications write. At the same time, it is possible that the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, representing the same party, may also run for this post, if by that time the sentence passed against him in December last year for insulting representatives of the CEC is not approved. The opposition mayor received 2 years and 7 months in prison, the sentence is under appeal.

Imamoglu and other officials who plan to participate in the elections will have to leave their positions within a week after the signing of the election decree. Presidential candidates will need to apply for registration with the CEC by April 2, those applying for seats in parliament - by March 25, according to Hurriyet. According to the newspaper, if the elections are held in two rounds, the second voting will take place on May 28.