The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) leads in the upcoming mayoral elections in Istanbul and the Turkish capital of Ankara, according to a poll published in a newspaper Friday. The main opposition CHP has a strong lead in Izmir, the poll said.
Support to ruling AKP candidate and current Istanbul mayor, Kadir Topbas, stands at 48.8 percent after the distribution of the undecided voters, a poll in Vatan daily showed.
According to the poll conducted by Konsensus research company, support to Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the candidate for the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), is at 37.2 percent.
In Ankara, Mayor Melih Gokcek, of the ruling party, leads the poll with 39 percent, while support to CHP's candidate Murat Karayalcin is at 34.1 percent.
Support to Mansur Yavas from the Nationalist Movement Party's (MHP) is 22.4 in Ankara, the poll said.
The poll was conducted with 1,033 people in Istanbul, 1,013 in Ankara, Vatan said.
Support for Izmir Mayor Aziz Kocaoglu from the CHP stands at 53.1 percent, according to the poll, while the AKP candidate, Taha Aksoy, has gained 30.4 percent support in the Aegean province, it said.
Turkey will hold local elections on March 29. The opposition sees the elections as an opportunity to regain the power in the larger provinces like Istanbul and Ankara from the decade-long Islamist party rule amid growing economic uneasiness. |
