A recent opinion poll has found that 61 percent of Turkish voters have voted for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) at least once in previous elections, the Kronos news website reported on Friday.
In a survey titled “Turkey’s Pulse – February 2022” conducted by MetroPoll, respondents were asked “Have you ever voted for the AKP in any of the past elections?”
A total of 60.8 of respondents said they voted for the AKP at least once, while 36.6 percent said they have never supported the ruling party, which has been in power since 2002.
In addition, the survey found that 74.7 percent of undecided voters and 66.9 percent of voters who refuse to vote in the next elections have voted at least once for the AKP.
The survey also revealed that a considerable number of supporters of the other parties have voted for the AKP in the past: 70.4 percent of far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) supporters, 54.1 percent of Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) supporters, 46.3 percent of nationalist İYİ (Good) Party supporters, 32.7 percent of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) supporters and 30 percent of main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) supporters have voted at least once for the AKP.
“Around 61 percent of our voters have voted for the AKP at least once in past elections — an important finding that should be taken into consideration by political parties,” Özer Sencar, MetroPoll’s founder, tweeted.
Seçmenlerimizin yaklaşık %61’i geçmişte en az bir kez de olsa AKP’ye oy vermiş. Siyasi partilerin dikkate alması gereken önemli bir veri. pic.twitter.com/lw15mdKO5x
— Ozer Sencar (@ozersencar1) March 11, 2022
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.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was elected president in 2014 and re-elected in 2018. His election in 2018 was under a presidential system as Turkey switched from a parliamentary to a presidential system of governance with a referendum in 2017. Under the presidential system, Erdoğan is accused of establishing one-man rule, destroying the separation of powers and silencing dissent.
The AKP government launched a massive crackdown on non-loyalist citizens following a failed coup in July 2016 as thousands of people were jailed on trumped-up terrorism or coup charges.