Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş and İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu both have a nationwide lead of more than 10 percent over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a possible presidential election, according to a recent survey conducted by the Ankara-based MetroPoll.
In a possible race between İmamoğlu from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Erdoğan, the İstanbul mayor would garner 49.7 percent of the vote, while his opponent would receive 38.8 percent, with 5.7 percent undecided.
A contest between the CHP’s Yavaş and the president would see the Ankara mayor receiving 49.4 percent of the vote and Erdoğan with 37.5 percent. Undecided voters would again constitute 5.7 percent.
Yavaş and İmamoğlu would fare better than the possible candidacy of İYİ (Good) Party chair Meral Akşener and CHP chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the survey suggests.
Akşener would garner 42.5 percent of the vote against Erdoğan, who would win 38.5 percent.
Kılıçdaroğlu, on the other hand, lags behind Erdoğan in the MetroPoll survey, as he would get 39.7 percent of the vote while the president would garner 42.5 percent.
Erdoğan, whose ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been in power as a single party government since 2002, was elected president in 2014 and reelected in 2018. His election in 2018 was under a presidential system as Turkey switched from a parliamentary to a presidential system of governance in a referendum in 2017.
Under the presidential system, Erdoğan is accused of establishing one-man rule, destroying the separation of powers and silencing dissent.