One third of young opposition voters in Turkey support pro-Kurdish HDP: Poll

Duvar English 

One third of the young opposition voters in Turkey support the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), according to a poll conducted by the Eurasia Public Opinion Research Center (AKAM).

While the total votes of the HDP rally around 11 percent, some 35 percent of the youth said that they would vote for it.

Main opposition CHP 'only party that increased votes since last elections' in Turkey

The situation is similar for the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which rallies around 25 percent, with 40 percent of the youth saying that they would vote for it.

AKAM chair Kemal Özkiraz said that three fourth of the youth who recently became voters prefer opposition parties, adding that they are not affected by the "slanders" aimed at the said parties.

"The youth prefers to vote for the HDP because they perceive it as being more leftist than the left. Plenty of young activists think that the CHP is at the social-democrat center. That's why they don't vote for the CHP even though they're not Kurdish," Özkiraz told Mesopotamia News Agency.

According to the poll, the right-wing İYİ (Good) Party gains a small amount of votes from the youth. It's also less than the amount received by the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

The participants were also asked questions about the country's current economic situation, with only 20 percent saying that they are pleased with it.

Turkish gov't can't risk holding early elections, opposition parties say

Some 77 percent said that they are experiencing economic hardships today as a result of the poor economy management prior to the pandemic. Özkiraz said that the government is losing serious support as a result.

Just 23 percent of those polled said they believed that the government's official figures of coronavirus cases and deaths were accurate.

Commenting on the months-long rumors on an early election, Özkiraz said that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) would be unwilling to go to snap polls since support for the AKP-MHP alliance stands at 43 percent, which is insufficient for the alliance to form government.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was polling at 41 percent, he also said.