TURKEY'S GENERAL ELECTION CALENDAR

UNCLAS ANKARA 001046 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV TU SUBJECT: TURKEY'S GENERAL ELECTION CALENDAR ¶1. On May 3, the Turkish parliament voted 458 to 0 for early general elections to be held on July 22, 2007. Turkey's Supreme Election Board (SEB) has prepared a draft schedule for parliamentary elections, based on the July 22 date. The calendar will start to run immediately, unless a party objects. Informal embassy translation follows at para 2. ¶2. The key parliamentary election dates are: -- May 4: The SEB will announce the parties that are eligible to run in July 22 elections and determine the number of MPs for each province. -- May 8: Civil servants planning to run in the elections must resign from government office. Ministers of Justice, Internal Affairs and Communications must resign and the Prime Minister must appoint technocrats from within or outside of parliament to those positions. -- May 12: Deadline for the Appeals Court Chief Prosecutor to send to sub-provincial election boards the lists of party members who may vote in primaries; deadline for political parties to submit their voter registration records to sub-provincial election boards. -- May 27: Changes in voter lists are finalized for each ballot box. -- June 8: Deadline for political party headquarters to submit to the SEB their candidate lists for each constituency. Deadline for provincial election boards to notify the SEB of independent candidates who have applied. -- June 14: Media organizations publish candidate lists. Provincial Election Boards and the SEB begin to review lists. -- June 15: Deadline for objections to the lists. -- June 22: The SEB begins to print and distribute ballot papers. -- July 7: Final candidate lists (including independents) are publicized in provinces, the Official Gazette, and the media. -- July 9: Voting begins at customs gates. -- July 15: Parties begin to have campaign time on radio and TV stations. -- July 21: End of election campaign. -- July 22: Election Day. END TEXT. WILSON