Turkey to go ahead with Presidential elections despite devastating quakes, check date
Turkey is determined to hold Presidential elections on the scheduled date despite the deadly earthquakes that left many areas in the country in scrambles.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that Presidential Elections will be held on May 14. The announcement comes amid speculation whether the vote would be postponed following the devastating earthquakes, which caused a whopping $34.2 billion of physical damage.
“This nation will do what is necessary on May 14, God willing,” Erdogan said in a speech to parliamentarians from his AK Party in parliament on Wednesday.
While Erdogan has accepted there had been problems with the earthquake response, he has also defended it, and said “negative campaigns” had been conducted for “political interest[s]”.
Turkey had announced a three-month state of emergency in provinces affected by the earthquake on February 7, a day after it struck. More than 1.25 people have been rendered temporarily homeless due to moderate to severe damage or complete building collapse.
Meanwhile, the death toll in Turkey from last month’s devastating earthquake has risen to 45,089, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said on Wednesday, bringing the total toll including Syria to about 51,000. The earthquake and subsequent tremors injured more than 108,000 in Turkey.
