Survey finds 50.1 pct support for single-party gov't to emerge from Nov 1 elections

With less than a month left until the Nov. 1 elections, a recently conducted public opinion survey by one of Turkey's most renowned research institutions, ANDY-AR, found 50.1 percent of participants favor a single-party government following the elections with 87.4 percent of respondents responding that the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is the party most likely to achieve a majority.

The latest survey, which was conducted between Oct. 3 and Oct. 6 with 1,764 participants in 29 provinces, found that 46.8 percent of the respondents believe that Turkey will get better within a year while 35 percent indicated that they are pleased with Turkey's current situation. ANDY-AR President Faruk Acar, speaking to HaberTürk daily, said that if the uncertainty changes in the country then the participants' hopes for the future would also change.

When participants were asked whether Turkey could be well governed with a coalition government, Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) supporters responded similarly indicating they are in favor of it while AK Party supporters and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) supporters indicated they' prefer a single-party government at 81.2 percent and 47 percent, respectively. While 50.1 percent of the participants indicated they want a single-party government, nearly 55 percent also believed the country could well be governed with a coalition. Acar described the results as the public not wanting a third election after Nov. 1 and further added that Turkey may face a new development.

Though the recent ANDY-AR survey found 95.3 percent of AK Party supporters who participated favor a single-party government, in the case of a coalition government, 26.1 percent of all survey participants preferred a coalition between the AK Party and CHP. The second-most preferred coalition government was between the CHP and MHP at 24.6 percent. Another result was that 49.6 percent believed a coalition government will be formed following the Nov. 1 elections despite 50.1 percent wanting a single-party government.

A recent survey conducted from Sept. 14-17 throughout Europe with face-to-face interviews among 6,000 Turkish citizens living in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, France and Belgium, found 63 percent of participants are in favor of a single-party government and 37 percent want a coalition government.