Poll shows Erdogan leading votes by 51% against Kilicdaroglu

By Al-Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
2 May 2023 20:22

Hurriyet states that "both of the candidates been on the rise in the past 10 days", indicating that expectations come from the fact that a second round is bound to take place.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the CHP and presidential candidate during his visit to the earthquake-hit Kahramanmaras, Turkey on March 11, 2023. (Reuters)

According to a poll conducted by the Optimar research center, and cited by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took 51.4% of the votes, while his rival candidate of the opposition Kemal Kilicdaroglu, got 48.6%.

In the survey of 3,005 people, conducted from April 25 to 28, the participants were asked: "Which of the candidates will you vote for in the presidential elections?"

Even a poll conducted earlier last month by the Areda Survey Center showed that 50.8% were in favor of another term for Erdogan and 43.1% were in favor of Kilicdaroglu as president.

Hurriyet stated that "both of the candidates been on the rise in the past 10 days", indicating that expectations come from the fact that a second round is bound to take place.

Turkish researcher Sezin Öney told Al Mayadeen that the Turkish diaspora is mostly consisting of Erdogan's AKP party supporters, adding that the elections are proving to be a point of no return on an international level.

With other parties running against Erdogan and his policies but with not enough traction to get to his level, the Table of Six (Altinin Masa) was formed and Kilicdaroglu was elected as the representative of the total opposition. The coalition chairs the CHP; Meral Aksener of the IYI (Good) Party; Ali Babacan of the DEVA (Democracy and Progress) party, Temel Karamollaoglu of the SP (Felicity) party; Ahmet Davutoglu of the GP (Future) party; and Gultekin Uysal of the DP (Democrat) Party.

Two other independent parties are running alongside which are Sinan Ogan of the Nationalist Party (MHP) and Muharrem Ince of the Homeland Party (MP).

Al Mayadeen's correspondent to Ankara, Omar Kayed, reported that opinion polls in the nation, often do not count foreign votes and added that the polls are currently discussing how indecisive the first round is turning out to be - after voting for Turkish citizens outside the country began April 2 and will continue until the 9th of May.