(02/22/10) -

Turkeys AKP Holds Slim Advantage

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) is the favourite political group in the country if only by a small margin, according to a poll by Sonar Arastirma. 29.5 per cent of respondents would vote for the AKP in the next legislative election, down 2.5 points since October.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) is the favourite political group in the country if only by a small margin, according to a poll by Sonar Arastirma. 29.5 per cent of respondents would vote for the AKP in the next legislative election, down 2.5 points since October.

The Republican People’s Party (CHP) is a close second with 29.1 per cent, followed by the National Action Party (MHP) with 20.4 per cent, the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) with 6.3 per cent, and the Felicity Party (SP) with 5.5 per cent. Support is lower for the Democratic Left Party (DSP), the Turkish Democratic Party (DP), and the Great Union Party (BBP).

Turkish voters renewed the Great National Assembly in July 2007. Final results gave the AKP 46.6 per cent of the vote and 341 seats in the legislature. Parties require at least 10 per cent of the vote to earn seats under the country’s proportional representation system. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a member of the AKP, has served as prime minister since March 2003.

Earlier this month, Ilhan Cihaner, the top prosecutor in the eastern Anatolian province of Erzincan, was arrested by Turkish authorities after another prosecutor, Osman Sanal, accused him of having links to an organization that allegedly tried to stage a military coup against Erdogan’s administration.

Cihaner’s case appears to be connected to last year’s announcement by the government that several military officers were trying to stage a coup. Dozens or retired and active members of the military are currently facing trial in relation to this accusation.

Last year, the Constitutional Court was close to dismantling the AKP for its alleged anti-secular activism. Cihaner’s arrest has sparked a new row between the governing party and the courts. Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, Turkey’s prosecutor general, said in reaction to Cihaner’s arrest that his team will investigate "whether the judiciary has come under political influence".

Polling Data

What party would you support in the next parliamentary election?

Source: Sonar Arastirma
Methodology: Interviews with 3,000 Turk adults, conducted from Jan. 3 to Jan. 13, 2010. Margin of error is 2.0 per cent.