Turkish election body reveals detailed polls calendar

Turkey’s Supreme Election Board announced in a statement on Friday more details regarding the calendar of the country’s parliamentary elections scheduled for June 7, 2015.
The election agency confirmed the eligibility of 31 political parties to run in the general election for the parliament’s 550 seats.
According to the agency’s calendar, parliamentary elections will begin on March 10. The shortlist of candidates will be announced on April 24.
The election board also announced that Feb. 10 is the deadline for public servants to submit their resignations to be able to run for a parliamentary seat.
Those who are serving at the headquarters of the political parties must resign from their posts by April 7 if they want to be an independent candidate.
Ballot boxes to be put up at customs gates and foreign missions will open on May 8 and close on May 31.
Turkey had held general elections every five years until a 2007 constitutional change which set elections every four years.
In the last general election held in 2011, the ruling Justice and Development, or AK, Party received almost 50 percent of the votes.
The AK Party, which has been in power for more than a decade in Turkey, has been victorious in last year’s March local election and its leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has claimed the presidential election in August 2014.