Turkey's jailed pro-Kurdish politician and presidential hopeful says next month's presidential and parliamentary will not be fair.

Responding to written questions from his prison cell, Selahattin Demirtas tells the Associated Press on Friday that he still is hopeful that his Peoples' Democratic Party would surpass its previous electoral gains and give President Recep Tayyip Erdogan "the necessary response at the ballot box."

With Turkey's media largely under government control, opposition parties face an uphill battle to make their voices heard in the June 24 vote. Demirtas faces the added hurdle of running a campaign from prison.

The Turkish government vehemently denies that the elections are unfair, saying such accusations aim to bring Turkish "democracy into disrepute."