ANKARA, May 3: Turkey's parliament approved on Thursday a ruling party call for an early general election in a bid to end a damaging crisis over attempts to elect a former Islamist as president.

The proposal to hold early polls on July 22 was approved by all 458 lawmakers present in the 550-seat parliament, where Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) has 351 seats.

The opposition also backed the proposal to bring the elections forwards from Nov 4.

Erdogan bowed to mounting pressure to call early polls after Turkey's top court annulled a first-round parliamentary vote last Friday to elect the next president, in which Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is the sole candidate.

Gul was once a member of an Islamist party, the main precursor of the AKP, which was banned for anti-secular activities. His wife wears the Islamic headscarf, which secularists see as a symbol of political Islam.

The prospect of a former Islamist holding the country's top office sparked a strong secularist campaign which peaked last week with the army threatening intervention to protect the secular order shortly after Friday's vote in which Gul narrowly missed being elected.

Even though the AKP has disowned its Islamist roots, its critics suspect it still has a secret agenda to erode the strict separation of state and religion.

They fear that with Gul as president, the party would have a free hand to implement Islamist policies without an effective control mechanism.

Seculars believe outgoing President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, a staunch secularist, kept the AKP in check, vetoing laws he deemed unconstitutional.

The opposition has said it will boycott Sunday's session as it did the first time, making it impossible for the AKP to secure the quorum to hold a vote. That means parliament is unlikely to elect a successor to Sezer before his term expires on May 16.

Sezer said on Thursday that he would stay in office until there is a new president. “Naturally, I will (stay in office). This is what the constitution envisages,” he told reporters here.

Angered by the court ruling, Erdogan said on Wednesday that he would press for far-reaching constitutional reforms, including a two-round popular vote to elect the head of state.

He also proposes modifying the presidency to run for a once-renewable, five-year mandate instead of the current single, seven-year term; and holding legislative elections every four years instead of the current five.

The AKP on Thursday sought opposition support for the package in a bid to garner the required two-third majority -- or 367 votes -- to approve constitutional amendments without a referendum.

The changes would also need to be approved by the president—AFP