Turkey’s main opposition New Party overtook President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in a September opinion poll, taking a 2.4-percentage-point lead, according to Gündemar Research, the Velev news website reported.
The New Party was founded in July by Özgür Özel after a court removed him as leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and reinstated his predecessor, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Özel and 90 other lawmakers left the CHP, making the new party the largest opposition group in parliament.
The New Party’s support rose to 30.64 percent from 26.95 percent in August, while the AKP fell to 28.24 percent from 28.38 percent. The figures reflect the proportional distribution of undecided voters, those with no opinion and protest votes, indicating rejection of the available parties.
The New Party’s 3.69-percentage-point increase reversed the AKP’s 1.43-point lead in August.
Gündemar surveyed 2,400 adults across 60 provinces between September 23 and 30. Respondents were asked, “Which political party would you vote for if a parliamentary election were held this Sunday?”
Before undecided voters, those with no opinion and protest votes were distributed, the New Party stood at 23.69 percent, up from 20.75 percent in August. The AKP’s support was almost unchanged at 21.84 percent, compared with 21.86 percent a month earlier.
Among the other parties, the far-right, anti-refugee Victory Party (ZP) recorded the largest increase, rising 1.12 percentage points to 5.81 percent after redistribution.
Support for the nationalist opposition İYİ (Good) Party fell from 8.21 percent to 7.77 percent, while the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) declined from 8.09 percent to 7.63 percent.
The far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), an ally of the AKP, dropped from 5.74 percent to 5.46 percent. The Islamist New Welfare Party’s (YRP) support fell by 1.3 percentage points to 2.51 percent.
Respondents who were undecided or had no opinion accounted for 13.14 percent of those surveyed, while 9.53 percent indicated they would cast a protest vote. Together, the two groups represented 22.67 percent, down 0.33 percentage points from August.
The September results put the New Party back in first place in Gündemar’s polling. The party had led the AKP by more than 11 percentage points in the July 28–31 poll, conducted just days after its founding on July 24, with 38.58 percent support against 27.43 percent.
In August, however, its support fell to 26.95 percent, while the AKP rose to 28.38 percent.
Turkey’s next parliamentary and presidential elections are scheduled for 2028.
The post Main opposition New Party overtakes Erdoğan’s AKP in September poll appeared first on Turkish Minute.