The Turkish parliament approved on Friday a motion to hold snap elections on June. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had made the call for the elections on Wednesday, surprising Turkish politics watchers and voters. 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. 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 on Friday 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 lets take this step because of the worry that our people would pay the price," Erdogan added. Erdogan became Turkeys first directly-elected president in August 2014, and is favorite to win again. A masterful campaigner, he has won nearly a dozen elections and dominated Turkish politics since his Justice and Development Party (AKP) swept to power in 2002. He remains Turkey’s most popular politician, admired by millions for championing the pious Muslim working classes and delivering airports, hospitals and schools during a period of strong economic growth. His opponents are ill-prepared to challenge him. Nine members of the pro-Kurdish HDP party have been jailed or detained pending trial, the main opposition CHP has yet to choose a presidential candidate, and the breakaway nationalist Iyi Party has only been in existence for a few months. It is yet to declare a candidate. The president earlier said the campaign had begun and that his ruling Justice and the AKP would present its manifesto at the Istanbul congress next Friday. If no individual obtains 50 plus one percent of the vote in the first round of the presidential election, the second round will take place on July 8, Hurriyet daily said. In announcing the elections, Erdogan said Turkey needed to switch quickly to a powerful presidency to confront economic challenges and the war in Syria. Those two factors support his decision to go early. Economists don’t expect Turkey to sustain last year’s breakneck growth of 7.4 percent through to the scheduled November 2019 poll date, while Erdogan is enjoying nationalist acclaim for early military success across the border in Syria. “Erdogan has all odds stacked in his favor. From ... economic growth to the state of emergency which he has been using to crack down on opposition, to a near complete control of the media,” said Soner Cagaptay, a fellow at the Washington Institute.