Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ended months of speculation by announcing the country will go to the polls in May, a month earlier than expected, in key presidential and parliamentary elections.

Speaking in parliament, Tayyip Erdogan told lawmakers the nation "will do what is necessary on May fourteenth, God willing."

It ends widespread speculation that the ruling AK party might seek to postpone polling in the aftermath of the country's catastrophic earthquakes. The official death toll from the recent shocks to hit the south of the country has surpassed 45,000.

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Shocks are still hitting the region three weeks after the initial quakes. On Monday, a tremor with a magnitude of 5.6 struck the city of Malatya, killing one person and flattening more than 100 buildings.

At the polls, the ruling AKP is facing a six-party coalition of nationalist and Islamist parties, who claim the disaster has been mishandled.

Two days after the initial shocks on Monday February 6, Twitter was blocked by internet providers TurkTelekom and Turkcell, citing concerns that disinformation was being spread online.

Leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who looks set to face off against Erdogan in the presidential race, later tweeted: "The result (was) fewer cries for help....(from the injured)."

With Türkiye battling runaway inflation and a cost of living crisis, President Erdogan is seeking to secure a third decade in power by pledging a swift rebuilding of damaged areas and rehousing the estimated 1.5 million people made homeless by the disaster.

Hundreds of thousands of survivors are camped out in tents, container homes and university dormitories. Erdogan has apologized for the slow relief effort, blaming "the devastating effects of the quakes and bad weather."

A group from Türkiye's election board has toured the region to report on the feasibility of running polls. 

Protests have been breaking out across Türkiye over the official response to the quakes. Fans of the Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe football clubs chanted slogans calling for government resignations ahead of matches at the weekend.

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