Premier Reportedly to Quit by December

Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz has signed a pact with an opposition faction for early general elections next year under which he is to resign by December, government sources said. The leftist opposition had promised to support a package of economic reforms if Yilmaz called early polls and announced that he will quit in favor of an “independent” preelection government. Yilmaz is a conservative who took office a year ago after pressure from the powerful army forced his Islamist predecessor, Necmettin Erbakan, to step down.