ISTANBUL (AP) — The leader of Turkey's main opposition party says he is confident of winning June 24 snap elections and ousting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan despite a lagging performance in past races.

Republican People's Party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said in an interview Saturday he expects the party to get "at least 60 percent of votes" in the presidential and parliamentary elections.

He predicted that Erdogan's past supporters would "side with democracy" instead of a "dictatorship."

The elections were moved forward this week from November 2019. The vote will abolish the office of the prime minister and usher in an executive system that gives the next president more powers.

Kilicdaroglu says the opposition wasn't surprised by the announcement of early elections, but the pro-secular CHP has yet to put forward a candidate.