Survey: 93 pct favor reintroducing of death penalty


A public survey conducted with 4,176 people found that 92.6 percent of respondents supported reintroducing the death penalty for crimes such as rape, terror and treason. The survey was conducted from March 2 to March 6 in 36 provinces using the method of computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI).The survey also asked participants who they would vote for if an election were held, and 54 percent said they would vote for the Justice and Development Party (AK Party). The closest rival to the AK Party in the results of the poll was the Republican People's Party (CHP) with the support of 21.7 percent of participants while the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) had support from 11.6 percent. The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) received the support of 7.8 percent of survey participants, below the nation electoral threshold.The survey further found that 57 percent of respondents support a presidential system while 43 percent thought it was not necessary to abandon Turkey's current parliamentary system.Regarding the operations against the Gulen Movement, 89.5 percent of participants indicated their support. The poll results showed that the 62 percent of participants disagreed with the Constitutional Court's decision concerning the violation of rights in the Can Dündar and Erdem Gül case.Regarding the intra-party debates within the MHP, the survey found that 58.5 percent of the MHP supporters participating in the survey were happy to see Devlet Bahceli as the current party chairman while 27 percent supported Meral Akşener.Additionally, 52.1 percent of CHP voters want Deniz Baykal back at the head of the party while 40 percent think the current chairman, Kemal Kılıcdaroglu, should continue. Responding to a question regarding whether the Gülen Movement influences the chairmanship debates in the MHP, 60 percent of the MHP voters said they believed there was a connection while 29.2 percent said there was not.