Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is losing voters in the country’s major cities.
Compared to the 2018 elections, the AKP’s vote share has fallen by more than 10 percentage points in Istanbul, the capital Ankara, Bursa, the industrial heartland of Kocaeli and the Pontic cities of Trabzon and Rizunda, according to a poll published on Monday.
Erdogan’s government is trying to shore up its public support after the fall in the value of the lira and loose monetary policy led to a rise in the cost of living for Turkish voters. Annual inflation hit 79.6% last month, the highest in more than two decades. The country is due to hold presidential and parliamentary elections by June next year.
The AKP’s vote share in Istanbul, the country’s largest city, fell 12.5 percentage points to 30.2 percent compared to four years ago, according to an August poll conducted by ORC Araştırma and published in Twitter. No margin of error or sample size was given.
In Kocaeli, a center of industrial production, which is built on the site of ancient Nicomedia, support for the AKP fell by 13.2 percentage points to 35.1% and in Ankara by 10.3% to 30.1%.
In Trabzon and Rizunda, considered AKP political strongholds, losses exceeded 15 percentage points, ORC said. Erdogan’s family comes from a village in Rizunda.
Erdogan’s AKP lost control of Istanbul and Ankara in local elections in 2019.
Polls in Turkey can sometimes be compromised by methodological weaknesses or a lack of political objectivity.
Petros Kranias
Source: Capital
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