Turkish opposition leads Erdogan by more than 10 points: Poll

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
14 Mar 2023 17:45
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Erdogan is facing the biggest challenge to his 20-year rule due to economic issues and the high cost of living.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers his speech at the Albanian Parliament, in Tirana, Albania, January 17, 2022 (Reuters)

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the Turkish opposition's presidential candidate, is leading against President Tayyip Erdogan by more than 10 percentage points ahead of the elections on May 14, new polls showed.

The Nation Alliance, the opposition bloc, is leading the parliamentary race by at least six points ahead of Erdogan's party and its allies.

Other than that, the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) remains comfortably above 10%.

Erdogan is facing the biggest challenge to his 20-year rule due to economic issues and the high cost of living, not to mention that victims of the earthquake are reconsidering where their loyalties lie after the disaster struck.

The elections will not only decide who will lead Turkey, but they will also decide which direction Turkey's economy will take.

Political risk advisory co-president at Teneo, Wolfango Piccoli, emphasized the importance of presenting a unified front for voters to help them keep up with their momentum as they head to the ballots.

"Simply blaming Erdogan for everything that is wrong in Turkey won't cut it. Past elections have shown that Erdogan is a phenomenal campaigner, but recent remarks suggest he has lost his popular touch and his ability to connect with voters," he said.

Poll results

A poll conducted on March 8, published by Aksoy Research on Saturday, showed the opposition alliance candidate, Kilicdaroglu, is leading against Erdogan with 55.6%.

The poll also showed that the main opposition bloc gathered just above 44%. The AKP and allies together earned 38.2%.

With the main opposition acquiring 43.5% of the votes, HDP got 11.3%.

ARC Research showed Erdogan lagging behind Kilicdaroglu as the current President acquired 43.2% according to a poll conducted on March 4-6, prior to having Kilicdaroglu announced as the opposition candidate.

Merve Tahiroglu, Turkey program director at the Washington-based Project on Middle East Democracy, called the alliance "diverse" and could appeal to a different segment of Turkey.

"In this specific moment we have more reason to be optimistic about Turkey's election delivering an opposition win than we have ever been in the last 20 years," she said.