HDP might win 15 percent of votes, says top pollster

KONDA Research and Consultancy chairman Bekir Ağırdır said that the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) could garner 15 percent of the votes and thereby pass the 10 percent threshold necessary to enter parliament.

Tuesday November 30 2021 05:08 pm

HDP supporters wave party flags in this file photo.

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Speaking at a panel organized for the ninth anniversary of the Green-Left Party (YSP), KONDA Research and Consultancy chairman Bekir Ağırdır said that the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) could win 15 percent of the general votes in the upcoming elections, the outlet Serbestiyet revealed on Nov. 29.

“The HDP might pass the threshold with 15 percent of the votes. And that’s not just because it will get votes from Turks. With the votes of the Generation Z, that is, first-time voters, the HDP can gain 15 percent of the votes with its own natural base,” Ağırdır said.

Former HDP co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ as well as a number of other HDP deputies were arrested on Nov. 4, 2016 on charges related to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in what the party calls "a political coup."

Since then, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) ramped up its crackdown on the HDP, going as far as to seek the party's closure.

Turkey has a long history of shutting down political parties, including pro-Kurdish ones. Critics say its judiciary is subject to political influence, a claim denied by the AKP and its coalition ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

The HDP is Turkey’s third-largest party, with 55 seats in the 600-member parliament.