Turkey’s Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said on Sunday he reaffirmed that his country’s general elections will be held on November 3, brushing aside a call by one of his government partners to postpone the poll.
In July, parliament brought elections forward from April 2004 to November 3 in a move stiffly opposed by Premier Ecevit but strongly supported by his two coalition partners. However, on Thursday one of his partners, Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, proposed to delay the election until mid-December to give Ankara time to strengthen its bid to join the European Union (EU) ahead of the EU's Copenhagen summit on December 12-13.
But, Ecevit did not appear keen on the idea at a rally on Sunday of his Democratic Left Party (DSP) in the northern province of Zonguldak on the Black Sea coast, according to AFP.
"Those who wanted to have an early election are now doing everything they can to get rid of it," he said. "They have run out of options. Turkey will hold general elections on November 3," he said. (Albawaba.com)
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