Monday’s earthquake in Turkey, which left more than 18,300 dead in the country, casts doubt on presidential elections scheduled for May 14, the local press reported on Friday, citing government and opposition sources.
The chairman of the nationalist opposition party Iyi, Meral Aksener, told independent journalist and analyst Murat Yetkin last night that he does not believe the elections can be held in May as planned.
On a visit to the affected area, Aksener was blunt when asked if the state of emergency approved by parliament on Thursday will affect elections in May: “I don’t think we will hold elections in May.”
Iyi is the second opposition party, behind the social-democratic CHP, with which it wants to create an electoral platform with a common candidate against the current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
A senior official of the ruling Islamist AKP party had already issued an identical statement to the local press, on the condition of anonymity, specifying that Erdogan himself sees no possibility of holding elections within three and a half months due to the earthquake.
The problem, local analysts warn, is that hundreds of thousands of people from the devastated regions will still be living in tents or moving to other parts of the country in May, making it difficult to organize elections in those areas.
According to the Turkish constitution, parliament can only decide to postpone an election if it cannot be held due to war.
The latest balance indicates that at least 21,051 people died as a result of the earthquakes that hit southern Turkey on Monday, which also hit Syria.
Source: DN
