HDP voters to vote in line with party policy in case of closure - survey

Three out of four supporters of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey say they will vote for the party the HDP points to even if the HDP is closed down, according to a new poll by Sosyo Politik, Gercek Gundem reported.

The HDP, which with 56 deputies is the third-largest party in the Turkish parliament, is facing closure over alleged ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a claim it denies.

On Jan.5, the Constitutional Court has ruled to temporarily block HDP’s Treasury funding accounts as part of the closure case, a major blow to the pro-Kurdish party ahead of this year’s parliamentary and presidential elections.

"What voters will do if the HDP is closed is a question we often measure. Three out of four voters say they will vote for the party the HDP refers to if it is closed," Sosyo Politik analyst Yuksel Genc told Gercek Gundem.

"Likewise, HDP voters are considering voting for their own candidate in the presidential elections. However, if the opposition agrees on a joint candidate, HDP voters will look at the HDP's position before making a decision," Yuksel said, referring to an opinion poll the firm conducted in January.

Genc also said that there will not be much difference between the People's Alliance and the National Alliance in the parliament that will be formed after the election and the HDP will be a key party.

According to the polls by Sosyo Politik, President Erdogan's AKP (Justice and Development Party) is partially regaining power.

"For some time, we have been collecting data that shows that the AKP is starting to collect its own undecideds. Although the AKP still has a problem reaching its own electorate compared to the 2018 elections, we see that it has been recovering regularly in recent months," Genc said.