ANKARA -- The Turkish Parliament held a special session on Monday to decide whether to hold early elections as beleaguered Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit desperately sought to drum up opposition to the move.

Just hours before the session, the 77-year-old Ecevit, who is vehemently opposed to going to the polls on November 3 almost 18 months early, called on MPs from his Democratic Left Party (DSP), to vote against the proposal.

"I think we should indicate that we are definitely against early elections," Ecevit told a DSP meeting.

He later met Mesut Yilmaz of the Motherland Party (ANAP), the junior partner in his shaky three-party coalition, to dissuade him from early polls, but admitted he had failed in his attempt.

"We discussed whether we can give up on early elections, but it is not possible," he told AFP.

More than 400 MPs in the 550-seat legislature attended Monday's General Assembly -- far more than is required for a quorum -- to begin procedures to vote on the early election proposal, which has been widely backed by both the opposition and Ecevit's coalition partners.

Deputy Parliament Speaker Murat Sokmenoglu sent the proposal to a parliamentary commission where it will be debated before a final vote, expected today, in the General Assembly.

Ecevit reluctantly agreed to bring elections forward from April 2004 after mass defections wiped out his Parliament majority and his senior coalition ally, the far-right Nationalist Action Party (MHP), threatened to quit the government if the vote was postponed.

But the veteran leader has maintained his opposition to early elections and at the weekend tried -- again unsuccessfully -- to convince MHP leader Devlet Bahceli to delay the polls, leading Turkish newspapers reported Monday.

And he again denied widespread media speculation that he would stand down in a last-ditch bid to block early elections. "No, I will not resign," Ecevit told reporters.

Turkey's turbulent financial markets rallied on Monday after the parliamentary session opened, with shares on the Istanbul Stock Exchange rising 1.1 percent.

Ecevit told his MPs that early polls would damage crucial economic reforms backed by a $16-billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), at a time when the economy was showing signs of improvement.

Recent opinion polls show that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of the Justice and Development Party (AK), would emerge as the winner in any election, while support for the ruling parties is nosediving.

Ecevit also warned that the pro-Kurdish people's Democracy Party (HADEP) could win a place in Parliament.

"Some very serious harm could ensue to the foundations of the state system if an opportunity is now hastily given to these two institutions," he said.

Many see elections as a way out of Turkey's political turmoil which began in early May when Ecevit missed official duties due to his ill health.

The government also hit a deadlock on democracy reforms which are key if Turkey is to advance its bid to join the European Union as the MHP voiced stiff opposition to changes such as the abolition of the death penalty and expanded cultural rights for the country's sizeable Kurdish minority.