Turkey’s president says his government still intends to hold elections in May despite devastating earthquake [Video]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan indicated on Wednesday that his government still intends to hold elections a month earlier than scheduled despite an earthquake last month that devastated parts of southern Turkey.

In an address to legislators of his ruling party, Erdogan chided critics of the government’s handling of the earthquake’s aftermath and said the people would give their response to those critics on May 14 — the election date his ruling party had tentatively set for before the deadly tremor hit.

The Feb. 6 earthquake and strong aftershocks that struck Turkey and Syria have killed around 50,000 people — the vast majority in Turkey.

Close to 204,000 buildings either collapsed or were severely damaged in Turkey, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless.

TURKEY HIT BY ANOTHER 6.4 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE, LEAVING AT LEAST THREE DEAD

Officials say 14 million people were affected by the quake and millions of people have either left or had …