Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) led the latest election poll conducted by the MetroPOLL company in January, despite losing support compared to the June 2018 presidential and parliamentary elections.
According to the initial results, 33.7 percent of respondents expressed support for the AKP, while 21.5 percent supported the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP); 10.1 percent the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP); 8.5 percent the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP); and 7 percent the İYİ (Good) Party.
A total of 8.5 percent of participants declined to answer, while 3.9 percent said they were undecided and 3.5 percent said they would not vote.
After taking the undecided and unresponsive voters into account, the AKP would get 40 percent of the vote, MetroPOLL estimated, only 2.5 percent lower than in the previous election.
The share of the AKP and its ally the MHP would be 50.1 percent in total, indicating that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s bid to win the presidency again would garner a narrow majority.
Many pollsters have been waiting for Ali Babacan, a former Erdoğan ally, to establish a new party that could be a game changer in Turkish politics.