CHP voters in favor of İnce, says poll

As Turkey's main opposition CHP begins its 18th extraordinary congress on Friday, a poll conducted by pro-CHP pollster SONAR indicated that the CHP voters are in favor of İnce whereas, 81 provincial chairmen and majority of CHP members are in favor of the current party leader Kılıçdaroğlu.

SONAR conducted a survey on 10.500 CHP voters in 15 cities. SONAR asked the voters whether they would like to see Kılıçdaroğlu or İnce as the party chair with the extraordinary party congress, 50.2 percent of CHP supporters in Ankara stated that they prefer to see İnce as the party chair, whereas 39.7 percent supported Kılıçdaroğlu. In Turkey's commercial capital, Istanbul, 47.1 percent of CHP voters supported İnce, while only 42.3 percent supported Kılıçdaroğlu. In İzmir, which is known as CHP's fortress, 51.7 percent put their support in İnce whereas only 34.4 percent stated that they want to keep seeing Kılıçdaroğlu as the party chair.

51.6 percent of CHP voters in Antalya, a touristic destination of Turkey, supported İnce while 33.7 percent stated that Kılıçdaroğlu should continue his post.

Accordingly in cities that CHP's voting rate is high, the voters are in favor of İnce while Kılıçdaroğlu is ahead of İnce in southeastern cities such as Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa. In Şanlıurfa, 56.9 percent of surveyed people supported Kılıçdaroğlu, while only 30.1 percent supported İnce. 44.3 percent of the surveyed people in Gaziantep said that they are in favor of Kılıçdaroğlu whereas 42.6 percent supported İnce.

Despite the surveys showing that CHP voters want to see a new face, İnce, as the party chair, many expect no surprises to happen in the congress and Kılıçdaroğlu to remain party leader. 78 out of 81 CHP provincial chairmen have declared support for the current party chairman in a joint statement made to the press in support of Kılıçdaroğlu, who is accused of using pressure on the delegates and provincial chairmen to vote for him while 300 CHP delegates signed for İnce to be a candidate.