Survey puts support for presidential system at 58 pct


A recent survey conducted by Ankara's Objective Research Center (ORC) revealed on Thursday that 58.9 percent of those polled are in favor of Turkey switching to a presidential system.

According to a survey conducted between June 5 and June 12 with a total of 2,240 participants, the first survey since Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım was elected AK Party chairman and the prime minister, showed a significant increase of support for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) from the participants at 53.5 percent. The party received 49.5 percent of votes in the Nov. 1 elections.Support for the Republican People's Party (CHP) is at 23.6 percent, and at 12 percent for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), while if an election was held, the pro-PKK Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) would fall under the electoral threshold with only 6.9 percent support.

Regarding the presidential system debates, 58.4 percent of participants supported a switch to a presidential system in another survey from the same company in May and 56.1 percent in February. The latest figures show that switching to a presidential system is also favorable for different parties. A total of 87.5 percent of participants think that the AK Party would possibly win the general elections, while 79 percent of them declared their support for security operations against the PKK terrorist organization.