Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu head to head in polls: according to a poll, voters focus on the economy, the judiciary and refugees.
Ankara (Turkey) – Turkey’s elections will go into overtime on Sunday (May 28): In the race for the presidency, incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Social Democratic challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu will go head-to-head in the first run-off in Turkey’s history. While the opposition leader Kilicdaroglu was given good chances of winning in the first round of the election – he was well ahead of his opponent in the polls – Erdogan is now generally regarded as the clear favourite.
But the portal Al monitor conducted a survey of almost a thousand voters, which shows a different picture: According to this, the two opponents are almost equal. And there would still be plenty of ties who still didn’t have a favorite by the end of the poll on May 23.
Survey before the runoff election in Turkey: Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu are almost on par
Recep Tayyip Erdogan | 40 percent |
Kemal Kilicdaroğlu | 39 percent |
draw | 15 percent |
non-voter | 6 percent |
Al-Monitor conducted the survey among 970 eligible voters in all regions of Turkey, the survey period was between May 19 and 23, and the deviation rate could be +/- three percent.
Turkey election 2023: These are the top issues in polls before the runoff election
According to Al-Monitor, more than 57 percent of respondents said that food prices and inflation are the biggest problems in Turkey, making the economy an important issue for the election. Around 52 percent of those surveyed said they trust Erdogan when it comes to business, while only 48 percent thought Kilicdaroglu was more capable.
Kilicdaroglu, on the other hand, convinced 57 percent of voters that he could get the situation with refugees from Syria under control for Turkey, while only 43 percent believed the incumbent president to be able to do this. According to this, 71 percent of those surveyed want the Syrians who have fled to return to Syria. Among those polled, 11 percent put the issue of “independence of the judiciary” in third place among the issues for the election, while Erdogan’s top issue, national security, was only decisive for 3 percent.
Polls for the Türkiye run-off election were not correct in the first ballot
According to international observers, Erdogan has regained his old strength ahead of Sunday’s run-off election. Unlike the Al Monitor poll, political experts believe it is likely that Erdogan, who has been in power for 20 years – first as prime minister and since 2014 as president – will secure another term in office.
Before the first ballot, Erdogan was behind Kilicdaroglu in most polls. In the first round of voting on May 14, neither candidate had achieved the necessary majority; However, Erdogan just missed it with 49.5 percent of the votes, while 44.9 percent of the voters voted for Kilicdaroglu. Erdogan’s Islamic-conservative AKP and their allies also retained their clear majority in the parliamentary elections taking place at the same time. (dpa/kat)
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