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Survey shows Turkey's AK Party could regain parliamentary majority if snap poll held

By REUTERS

AUGUST 5, 2015 17:45

ISTANBUL - Turkey's AK Party could secure enough support to regain the parliamentary majority it lost in a June vote if a snap election were held immediately, Turkish pollster SONAR found in its latest survey.

Negotiations to form a government, which started about a month after a June 7 general election, have been overshadowed by Ankara's offensive against Kurdish People's Party (PKK) militants and Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and by rising violence between government forces and Kurdish militants in the southeast.

The AK Party that President Tayyip Erdogan helped found would secure 42.9 percent of the vote if a snap election were held immediately, SONAR found, slightly higher than the 40.9 percent it gained in June, the worst result for more than a decade which saw it lose its simple majority.

Votes for the secular main opposition CHP and nationalist MHP would remain unchanged while the pro-Kurdish HDP's votes would fall to 10.3 percent, just over a key threshold, from above 13 percent it secured last time.

Just over half of the 3,500 people polled by SONAR in 26 Turkish provinces between July 26 and August 4 said they were in favour of a snap election.

The conflict with Kurdish militants has traditionally roused nationalist sentiment in Turkey, and may push voters towards the perceived greater stability of a singly-party government. Erdogan has repeatedly warned of dangers of fragile coalitions.

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