President Tayyip Erdogan officially set Turkey’s parliamentary and presidential elections for May 14, a month ahead of schedule, signing the decision during a ceremony broadcast live on Friday, Reuters reported.

“Our nation will go to the polls to elect its president and parliamentarians on May 14,” Erdogan said in a speech after signing the election decree.

Erdoğan thus launched the race for the biggest test of his 20-year rule, one that will decide not only who leads Turkey, but also how it is run, where its economy is headed and what role it might play in the conflicts in Ukraine. and from the Middle East.

On Monday, Turkey’s main six-party opposition alliance named Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), as its presidential candidate to challenge Erdogan.

Polls show that the results of the presidential and parliamentary elections will be close, and the Opposition Bloc will even be slightly ahead of the ruling alliance.

A bloc of opposition parties has vowed to reverse many of Erdogan’s policies on the economy, civil rights and foreign affairs, and many see the election in about two months as the most important in the republic’s 100-year history.