22 July is set for early election in Turkey

Turkey's parliament has confirmed that early elections, aimed at ending a crisis over the party's candidate for president, will be held on the 22nd of July.

MPs unanimously backed the ruling Justice and Development party's proposal in a vote.

Meanwhile, the Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer has said that he will remain in office until a new President is elected by the Parliament.

The governing Justice and Development Party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier suggested June the 24th for the vote, which was originally scheduled for the 4th of November.

Opposition parties boycotted the parliamentary vote on Friday to prevent deputy-Prime Minister - Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül becoming president.

The country's constitutional court then backed their call to annul the vote.

Mr Erdoğan, who heads the ruling AK party, had wanted elections - originally scheduled for November - to be held in June.

But the electoral council, which is responsible for organizing the elections, had proposed the 22nd of July stating that it could not be possible to organize elections earlier than that.

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