The Supreme Election Board (YSK) has already launched works for creating essential ground for voting in the earthquake-hit regions and for the quake survivors who have been displaced in the aftermath of the disaster, the daily Hürriyet reported on Feb. 24.
Türkiye will go to simultaneous presidential and parliamentary polls latest on June 18 but President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had earlier suggested May 14 as the best day for holding the elections due to national university exams in June.
However, the devastating earthquakes of Feb. 6 that killed more than 40,000 people and destroyed 11 provinces in southern Anatolia caused questions about the practicability of the polls, although the constitution obliges they be held on time except during war.
The reports suggested that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) stick to earlier plans for holding the polls this spring, either in May or June.
Accordingly, the YSK has begun working on how to hold the polls in the earthquake-hit regions and held some meetings to this end, the Hürriyet reported. The election watchdog is considering merging collapsed districts under a single constituency and electoral lists can be re-organized with the help of the civil registry offices in that constituency.