Turkey parliament approves snap polls on June 24

The Turkish parliament today swiftly passed a motion confirming snap elections will take place on June 24 in line with a decision by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The motion presented in parliament earlier in the day was passed by 386 lawmakers in the 550-seat parliament.

The pro-Kurdish leftist Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) walked out of the general assembly before the vote was held, an AFP photographer in parliament said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan surprised Turkish politics watchers and voters when he declared that there would be snap parliamentary and presidential elections on June 24.

In a week of fast-moving developments, Erdogan declared the date just a day after his nationalist ally Devlet Bahceli on Tuesday urged early polls in August.

The elections had been scheduled for November 3, 2019 as part of the constitutional changes approved in April last year to create an executive presidency.

While the government argues the changes will streamline decision making, the opposition say that it will lead to a one-man regime.

Erdogan today said that early elections had not been called because of his ambitions. "I still have one-and-a-half more years left of my mandate as president. If it were about ambition, I could have continued," he said during a speech in Istanbul.

"The course of domestic and foreign politics, military and economic developments showed us the serious costs there would be if we continued with the current system," he said.

"After we evaluated this, we said 'let's take this step' because of the worry that our people would pay the price," Erdogan added.

Erdogan became Turkey's first directly-elected president in August 2014, and is favourite to win again.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) is yet to declare a candidate.

The president earlier said the campaign had begun and that his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) would present its manifesto at the Istanbul congress next Friday.

If no individual obtains 50 plus one per cent of the vote in the first round of the presidential election, the second round will take place on July 8, Hurriyet daily said.