Turkey: no postponement of elections after February earthquakes
Turkish President and leader of the AKP party, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, attends his party's group meeting at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, in Ankara this Wednesday, March 1, 2023. AFP - ADEM ALTAN
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
As Turkey still counts its dead, the potential postponement of presidential and legislative elections was the subject of speculation.
This Wednesday, March 1, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan confirmed that the ballot would be held as planned on May 14.
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With our correspondent in Istanbul,
Céline Pierre-Magnani
The date is therefore confirmed, the presidential and legislative elections will be held on May 14th.
The question of postponing the elections was on everyone's lips after the double earthquake of February 6th.
The disaster killed more than 45,000 people in the country, and affected nearly 15% of the population.
The humanitarian crisis continues, the population is still in shock.
And the Turkish authorities have come under heavy criticism for shortcomings in the relief response,
which President Erdoğan himself has acknowledged
.
How to carry out such a vote when nearly 1.5 million people are housed in tents, and 3.3 million people have left the affected area?
The ten affected regions are also under a state of emergency, which raises fears of an environment that is not conducive to the proper conduct of the electoral campaign.
The Turkish president has announced that he is a candidate for re-election for a third term.
As for the opposition, it is advancing in dispersed order and has still not announced the name of its candidate.
If the leader of the Kemalist party, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, seems to win, his candidacy must still be confirmed, perhaps in the next few days.
►Also read Turkey: how to reduce the trauma of the earthquake in children
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Turkey
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Earthquake
Natural disasters