Turkey’s opposition coalition shoots ahead of ruling party alliance: survey

A recent survey has found that public support for an alliance of opposition parties has exceeded support for an alliance led by Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the T24 news website reported on Tuesday.

The Nation Alliance, consisting of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Good (İYİ) Party, would secure 42.2 percent of the vote against 39.1 percent for the Public Alliance of the AKP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), according to a tweet from pollster Area Research.

In the Area survey, titled “Turkey Political Agenda Survey: November,” conducted in face-to-face interviews with 1,514 people aged 18 and above between Nov. 26 and 30, respondents were asked, “Which party would you vote for if a parliamentary election were to be held today?”

According to the results, the top contenders, the AKP and the CHP, garnered 30 percent and 28.2 percent, respectively, while the İYİ Party received 14 percent of the vote.

The AKP’s partner, the MHP, got 9.1 percent of the vote, while the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) vote stood at 10 percent, and the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) secured 4.4 percent.

In the last general election, held in June 2018, the AKP garnered a nationwide vote of 42.6 percent. However, public surveys have increasingly been showing the party’s public support to be slipping.

Erdoğan, whose ruling 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 after a public referendum in 2017. Under the presidential system, Erdoğan is accused of establishing one-man rule, destroying the separation of powers and silencing dissent.