Over 65 percent of Turkish citizens are seeking a return to the parliamentary system from the current presidential system of governance, according to a poll by Istanbul-based Yöneylem Social Research Center.
A total of 60 percent of those surveyed by Yöneylem say they would never vote for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the presidential polls set to take place in 2023, Sözcü newspaper cited the survey as finding.
Those who said they would vote for Erdoğan under any circumstance measured at 30.7 percent.
The survey arrives as Turkey grapples with runaway inflation, which in July measured at a 24-year-high of almost 80 percent, and the lira continues to lose value against the U.S. dollar, sparked by Erdoğan’s unorthodox economic policies bolstered by the executive presidential system.
At total of 66.4 percent of participants in the survey opted to reinstate the parliamentary system, which was replaced by an executive presidential system in 2018, while 28.5 percent prefer the current system, Sözcü newspaper cited the survey as finding. Another 5.1 percent of the participants in the survey did not indicate a preference.
Erdoğan was re-elected president in 2018 with vastly enhanced executive powers following a nationwide referendum marred by opposition allegations of vote-rigging. His political opponents accuse him of bypassing parliament through presidential decrees, undercutting the judiciary’s independence and of seeking to suppress all opposition to his rule.
Supporters of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) formed the largest percentage of those seeking a return to the parliamentary system at 94.7 percent, according to Yöneylem, with pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) voters following closely behind at 93.7 percent.
The same data measured at above 90 percent for supporters of opposition Good Party (İYİP), Islamist Felicity Party, Future Party and Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), Sözcü said.
A total 79.4 percent of Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) supporters back the current presidential system, the survey found. This figured measured at 62.9 percent among far-right AKP coalition partner Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) voters.
Erdoğan’s ruling AKP maintains the presidential system allow for the smoother running of government and place the parliament, in charge of legislature, as a counterweight to the president’s executive powers. But critics maintain the system has tightened Erdoğan’s grip on the country and ushered in one-man rule.
Opposition political parties are increasing their cooperation to unseat Erdoğan and his ruling party at the next polls, due by June next year, and to return the country to a parliamentary system of government, which was in effect for over 90 years.