Majority of Turkey's ruling alliance voters think gov't can't manage economy

Duvar English

The Turkish government is unable to manage the economy, according to a majority of voters of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

An October survey by MetroPoll, a leading Turkish polling firm, has asked citizens if they think “the economy in our country is managed in a good or bad way in recent times.”

Some 80.6 percent of the surveyed citizens said that the “economy is being managed in a bad way,” whereas it was only 16.3 percent of citizens who said the “economy is managed in a good way.”

Metropoll head Özer Sencar shared the results of the survey with the following tweet: "To our curious readers who have been asking if there will be early elections: Without an adjustment to this perception even partially, the rulership would not go to early elections." 

The survey also gave a breakdown analysis of citizens according to which political party they favor.

Accordingly, 61.4 percent of AKP voters think the government is failing in managing the economy, whereas 33.7 percent of AKP voters think otherwise as they have said, “The economy is managed in a good way.” The remaining 4.9 percent of AKP voters did not indicate an opinion.

As for the MHP voters, 80.7 percent said the economy is not being managed well, whereas 19.3 percent disagreed.

The AKP is facing growing warning signals that its idiosyncratic approach to running Turkey’s economy is not working. Inflation has reached soaring figures, the currency is losing value at a rapid pace, and young people's expectations and dreams continue to be shadowed by the rising unemployment rate. A decade ago it cost around 1.8 liras to buy a single dollar, whereas today that figure is almost 10.