As the main opposition pushes for an early vote, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is still ahead, according to the latest opinion poll by a polling company that gave the closest prediction of the result of the 2023 elections.

The poll by Betimar shows that 35.4% of respondents were willing to vote for the AK Party if an election were held next week. The New Party (YP), which grabbed the main opposition position shortly after its inception, trailed the AK Party at 20.1%.

YP leader Özgür Özel had repeatedly called for rescheduling the 2028 election while he was the chair of the Republican People’s Party (CHP). Özel still advocates rescheduling the election and is overconfident, as he recently claimed that the YP would secure 60% of the vote in an early election.

Betimar’s poll also showed a surprise leap for the Good Party (IP), which scored 9.3% in the poll, ahead of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), which usually surpasses it in opinion polls. The CHP, meanwhile, declined to 5.3%, according to the poll, an expected fall given that it lost its main opposition status with the founding of YP by a former CHP lawmaker.

The government, meanwhile, appears intent on holding elections on time. This was underlined by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz. As he announced the medium-term program for the economy on Sunday, Yılmaz noted that the program was prepared on the basis that the elections would be held on time, in the spring or summer of 2028, and that any rescheduling was at the discretion of Parliament. The president also has the authority to call an early election, although President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has so far not openly responded to the opposition’s calls.

Last month, the AK Party marked its 25th anniversary, pledging to provide more services to the country against the backdrop of successive election victories over the past two decades, the longest period the country had been governed without coalition governments since the 1990s.