Turkey's ruling party, nationalist ally 'would fail to form gov't if elections were today'

Duvar English

The votes of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) fell below 50 percent, according to a recent poll, revealing that the alliance formed by them would fail to establish a government.

Private pollster AREA Research asked some 2,200 respondents who they would vote for if elections were held today. The People's Alliance formed by the AKP and the MHP were seen to be getting 45.6 percent of votes, with the AKP gathering the majority 35.8 percent.

The MHP was seen to be failing to pass the 10 percent election threshold due to gathering 9.6 percent of the participants' votes.

The right-wing opposition Good (İYİ) Party gathered 11.8 percent of the votes, the poll said, surpassing the votes of the MHP.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) received 24.8 percent of survey participants' votes, while pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) gathered 12.1 percent.

Meanwhile, majority of the participants, 56.8 percent, said they would prefer a parliamentary system over a presidential one.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's approval rating was seen to be 44.3 percent, while 51.6 percent said they had negative opinions of him.

MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli's approval rating measured even lower at 32. 8 percent, while 51.8 percent said they had negative views of him.

Biggest problem coronavirus, economy follows

Some 32.9 percent of participants said that they thought the coronavirus (COVID-19) was Turkey's biggest problem at the moment, followed closely by the economy at 26.8 percent.

Unemployment came in third with 9.7 percent and the education system followed with 5.5 percent.

The legal system was the fifth biggest perceived problem with 4.1 percent of participants' votes, followed closely by bad governance with 3.9 percent.